Job 14

VIN^{(i) 1} Man, born of woman, is of few days, and full of trouble. ² "He springs up like a flower and fades away. He is like a fleeting shadow and does not endure. ³ "Do you look on such a person? Will you bring him before you for judgment? ⁴ "Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one! ⁵ "Man's days are determined. You have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed. ⁶ "So look away from him and let him alone, till he has put in his time like a hired man. ⁷ "At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail. ⁸ "Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil, ⁹ yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth growth like a plant. ¹⁰ "On the other hand man dies and is laid low. He breathes his last and is no more! ¹¹ "Just like water that disappears from the sea or a riverbed that becomes parched and dry, ¹² so men lie down and do not rise. Until the heavens are no more, men will not awake or be roused from their sleep. ¹³ "If only you would hide me in the grave (Sheol) and conceal me till your anger has passed! If only you would set a time for me and then remember me! ¹⁴ "If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my change (release) to come. ¹⁵ "You will call and I will answer you! You will long for the creature your hands have made. ¹⁶ "Surely then you will count my steps but not keep track of my sin. ¹⁷ "My transgressions will be sealed up in a bag. You will cover over my sin. ¹⁸ »As a mountain erodes and crumbles and as a rock is moved from its place, ¹⁹ as water wears away stones and torrents wash away the soil, so you destroy man's hope. ²⁰ "You overpower him once and for all, and he is gone! You change his countenance and send him away. ²¹ »His sons are honored and he does not know it. They are brought low and he does not see it. ²² "He feels but the pain of his own body and mourns only for himself."