Job 14:5

Since man’s days ¹  are determined, ²  the number of his months is under your control; ³  you have set his limit ⁴  and he cannot pass it.

Man’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.

"Since his days are determined, The number of his months is with You; And his limits You have set so that he cannot pass.

You have decided the length of our lives. You know how many months we will live, and we are not given a minute longer.

Mortals have a limited life span. You've already decided how long we'll live--you set the boundary and no one can cross it.

If his days are ordered, and you have knowledge of the number of his months, having given him a fixed limit past which he may not go;

Since their days are determined, and the number of their months is known to you, and you have appointed the bounds that they cannot pass,

Since his days are determined, The number of his months is with You; You have appointed his limits, so that he cannot pass.

Since man’s days ¹  are determined, ²  the number of his months is under your control; ³  you have set his limit ⁴  and he cannot pass it.

¹ tn Heb “his days.”

² tn The passive participle is from חָרַץ (kharats), which means “determined.” The word literally means “cut” (Lev 22:22, “mutilated”). E. Dhorme, (Job, 197) takes it to mean “engraved” as on stone; from a custom of inscribing decrees on tablets of stone he derives the meaning here of “decreed.” This, he argues, is parallel to the way חָקַק (khaqaq, “engrave”) is used. The word חֹק (khoq) is an “ordinance” or “statute”; the idea is connected to the verb “to engrave.” The LXX has “if his life should be but one day on the earth, and his months are numbered by him, you have appointed him for a time and he shall by no means exceed it.”

³ tn Heb “[is] with you.” This clearly means under God’s control.

⁴ tn The word חֹק (khoq) has the meanings of “decree, decision, and limit” (cf. Job 28:26; 38:10).

sn Job is saying that God foreordains the number of the days of man. He foreknows the number of the months. He fixes the limit of human life which cannot be passed.