So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.
So when a person dies and lies down, they don't get up again. Until the heavens themselves pass away, they won't wake up or be raised from their final sleep.
Job is saying that when people die, they stay dead and won't come back to life until the end of time itself.
📚 Historical Context
In the Book of Job, which is part of the Old Testament's Wisdom Literature, Job is engaged in a profound dialogue with his friends about human suffering and God's justice, as he grapples with his own hardships. In Chapter 14, Job reflects on the fleeting nature of life and the permanence of death, portraying it as a deep sleep from which humanity will not awaken until the heavens cease to exist, likely alluding to the end times. This verse draws from ancient Hebrew views on mortality, where death was seen as an irreversible state until divine intervention.
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