^14:7 A tree has hope if it has been cut down: it grows green again, and its branches sprout.
^14:8 If its root has grown old in the earth and its trunk has died in the dust,
^14:9 at the scent of water it will germinate and make foliage, as when it was first planted.
^14:10 But when man has died and been stripped bare and consumed, where, I ask, is he?
^14:11 Just as if the waters withdraw from the sea and a river, emptied out, dries up,
^14:12 so man, when he has slept, will not rise again; until heaven is worn away, he will not awaken nor arise from his sleep.

240. A tree has hope if it has been cut down, etc. Having set down his own judgment, Job here proceeds to manifest it, and first he shows that man, according to the things that appear in this life, is of worse condition than even certain lowest creatures, which are restored after perishing, as appears especially in trees. Now the life of a tree fails in two ways, as does also the life of man, namely, by violence and by nature. Therefore, with regard to the violent failing of a tree, he says: if a tree has been cut down, it has hope, that is, a natural aptitude to be restored again, because it grows green again in itself if it is planted; and its branches sprout, in which it is shown to recover perfect life as before. But with regard to the natural failing of a tree he adds: If its root has grown old in the earth, when it cannot draw nourishment because of the defect of natural power, and so consequently its trunk has died in the dust, that is, by rotting it has been reduced to dust in some part, at the scent of water it will germinate, that is, when rain comes, from the rottenness of the wood having a seminal power, and make foliage, namely, of leaves, as when it was first planted. But this is not found in man according to the course of the present life, whence he adds: But when man has died and been stripped bare and consumed, where, I ask, is he?

And he sets down three things that man loses by degrees:

for first the soul is separated from the body, and to this pertains what he says: when he has died;

second, the coverings and ornaments of the body, which sometimes remain to man after death, but afterwards he is stripped even of these, and to this pertains what he says: and been stripped bare;

lastly, even the very structure of the body is dissolved, and to this pertains what he says: and consumed. When these things have been completed, nothing of man sensibly appears as remaining; hence among those who believe that nothing exists except sensible and bodily things, he seems to have been totally reduced to nothing. Therefore, expressing their doubt, he says: where, I ask, is he?

241. Now it must be considered that those things which do not perish totally seem able to be restored, as has been said of a tree cut down or growing old; but those things of which nothing remains seem impossible to restore again, as if the water of the sea or of a river were totally dried up. But man, as has already been said, seems through death to be consumed in such a way that nothing of him remains; whence according to this reasoning it appears that it is impossible for him to be restored again to life, and this is what he adds: Just as if the waters withdraw from the sea and a river, emptied out, dries up, so man, when he has slept, that is, when he has died, will not rise again from death. Now it seems to be of the same impossibility that incorruptible things should be corrupted and that things totally corrupted should be restored again; but heaven is incorruptible, and therefore he adds: until heaven is worn away, he will not awaken, as one coming back to life, nor arise from his sleep, to carry out the works of life, as if to say: just as it is impossible for heaven to be worn away, that is, corrupted, so it is impossible for a dead man to rise again;

and this indeed is said, as has been stated, on the supposition that nothing of man remains after death, according to what was said: where, I ask, is he? Or this can be referred to the opinion of those who held that this whole bodily universe was to be corrupted and restored again, in which restoration they held that the same men would return, so that the sense would be: while this world endures, man will not rise from death. But the Catholic faith does not hold that the substance of the world is to perish, but the state of this world that now is, according to 1 Corinthians 7:31: the figure of this world is passing away. Therefore this change of the world according to its figure can here be understood by the wearing away of heaven: for the common resurrection of the dead is expected at the end of the world, according to John 11:24: I know that he will rise again in the resurrection, on the last day.