“Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.”
"Man who is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble." Job shifts from direct address to God to a meditation on the human condition. This verse articulates one of the poem's deepest truths: life itself is brief and turbulent. Job moves beyond personal complaint to universal observation—his suffering becomes exemplary of the human predicament. The opening establishes that suffering is not aberrant but intrinsic to human existence.
Church Fathers on Job 14:1
Man that is born of a woman liveth a short time, and is full of many miseries. In Sacred Writ ‘woman’ is taken either for the sex, or else for ‘frailty.’ For the ‘sex,’ as where it is written, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the Law. But for frailty, as where it is said by the Wise Man, Better is the iniquity of a man than a woman doing well. For ‘a man’ is the term for every strongminded and discreet person, but ‘a woman’ is understood of the weak or…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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