Job 14
1 [Homo natus de muliere, brevi vivens tempore, repletur multis miseriis.
Man, who is born of woman, lives only a few days and is full of trouble.
2 Qui quasi flos egreditur et conteritur, et fugit velut umbra, et numquam in eodem statu permanet.
He sprouts from the ground like a flower and is cut down; he flees like a shadow and does not last.
3 Et dignum ducis super hujuscemodi aperire oculos tuos, et adducere eum tecum in judicium?
Do you look at any of these? Do you bring me into judgment with you?
4 Quis potest facere mundum de immundo conceptum semine? nonne tu qui solus es?
Who can bring something clean out of something unclean? No one.
5 Breves dies hominis sunt: numerus mensium ejus apud te est: constituisti terminos ejus, qui præteriri non poterunt.
Man's days are determined. The number of his months is with you; you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass.
6 Recede paululum ab eo, ut quiescat, donec optata veniat, sicut mercenarii, dies ejus.
Look away from him that he may rest, so that he may enjoy his day like a hired man if he can do so.
7 Lignum habet spem: si præcisum fuerit, rursum virescit, et rami ejus pullulant.
There can be hope for a tree; if it is cut down, it might sprout again, so that its tender stalk does not disappear.
8 Si senuerit in terra radix ejus, et in pulvere emortuus fuerit truncus illius,
Though its root grows old in the earth, and its stump dies in the ground,
9 ad odorem aquæ germinabit, et faciet comam, quasi cum primum plantatum est.
yet even if it only smells water, it will bud and send out branches like a plant.
10 Homo vero cum mortuus fuerit, et nudatus, atque consumptus, ubi, quæso, est?
But man dies; he becomes weak; indeed, man stops breathing, and then where is he?
11 Quomodo si recedant aquæ de mari, et fluvius vacuefactus arescat:
As water disappears from a lake, and as a river loses water and dries up,
12 sic homo, cum dormierit, non resurget: donec atteratur cælum, non evigilabit, nec consurget de somno suo.
so people lie down and do not rise again. Until the heavens are no more, they will not awake nor be roused out of their sleep.
13 Quis mihi hoc tribuat, ut in inferno protegas me, et abscondas me donec pertranseat furor tuus, et constituas mihi tempus in quo recorderis mei? (Sheol h7585)
Oh, that you would hide me away in Sheol away from troubles, and that you would keep me in private until your wrath is over, that you would set me a fixed time to stay there and then call me to mind! (Sheol h7585)
14 Putasne mortuus homo rursum vivat? cunctis diebus quibus nunc milito, expecto donec veniat immutatio mea.
If a man dies, will he live again? If so, I would wish to wait all my weary time there until my release should come.
15 Vocabis me, et ego respondebo tibi: operi manuum tuarum porriges dexteram.
You would call, and I would answer you. You would have a desire for the work of your hands.
16 Tu quidem gressus meos dinumerasti: sed parce peccatis meis.
You would number and care for my footsteps; you would not keep track of my sin.
17 Signasti quasi in sacculo delicta mea, sed curasti iniquitatem meam.
My transgression would be sealed up in a bag; you would cover up my iniquity.
18 Mons cadens defluit, et saxum transfertur de loco suo:
But even mountains fall and come to nothing; even rocks are moved out of their place;
19 lapides excavant aquæ, et alluvione paulatim terra consumitur: et hominem ergo similiter perdes.
the waters wear down the stones; their flooding washes away the dust of the earth. Like this, you destroy the hope of man.
20 Roborasti eum paululum, ut in perpetuum transiret: immutabis faciem ejus, et emittes eum.
You always defeat him, and he passes away; you change his face and send him away to die.
21 Sive nobiles fuerint filii ejus, sive ignobiles, non intelliget.
If his sons are honored, he does not know it; and if they are brought low, he does not see it.
22 Attamen caro ejus, dum vivet, dolebit, et anima illius super semetipso lugebit.]
He feels only the pain of his own body, and he mourns for himself.
