John Gill Commentary Job 14:5

"Seeing his days are determined, The number of his months is with thee, And thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;" — Job 14:5 (ASV)

Seeing his days [are] determined
Or "cut out" ^F9 , exactly and precisely, how many he shall live, and what shall befall him every day of his life; whose life, because of the shortness of it, is rather measured by days than vents:

the number of his months [are] with you ;
before him, in his sight, in his account, and fixed and settled by him:

you have appointed his bounds that he cannot pass ;
the boundaries of his life the period of his days, beyond which he cannot go; the term of man's life is so peremptorily fixed by God, that he cannot die sooner, nor live longer, than he has determined he should; as the time of a man's birth, so the time of his death is according to the purpose of God; and all intervening moments and articles of time, and all things that befall a man throughout the whole course of his life, all fall under the appointment of God, and are according to his determinate will; and when God requires of man his soul, no one has power over his spirit to retain it one moment; yet this hinders not the use of means for the preservation and comfort of life, since these are settled as well as the end, and are under the divine direction:

the word for bounds signifies sometimes "statutes" ^F11 : though not to be understood of laws appointed by God, either of a moral or ceremonial nature; but here it signifies set, stated, appointed times ^F12 Seneca ^F13 says the same thing;``there is a boundary fixed for every man, which always remains where it is set, nor can any move it forward by any means whatsoever.''

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FOOTNOTES:

• F9: (Myuwrx) "exacte praefiniti sunt", Tigurine version.
• F11: (wqx) "statuta ejus", V. L. Mercerus, Schmidt.
• F12: "Stata tempora", Beza.
• F13: Consolat. ad Marciam, c. 20.