Job 14:7-12 gives the reason why God should let man have what little pleasure he can (Job 14:6): Death ends all. In Damascus it is still customary to cut down trees, the stumps of which being watered send forth new shoots. Job refers to such a practice, which shows the indomitable vitality of tree life (Job 14:7-9). But man, when he dies, knows no rejuvenation (Job 14:10 f.).
Job 14:11 may perhaps be a gloss, quoted from Isaiah 19:5, where both the sea and the river mean the Nile.
7 For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.
8 Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground;
9 Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.
10 But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?
11 As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up:
12 So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.