Job 14
1 Life is short and full of trouble,
人為婦人所生， 日子短少，多有患難；
2 like a flower that blooms and withers, like a passing shadow that soon disappears.
出來如花，又被割下， 飛去如影，不能存留。
3 Do you even notice me, God, and why do you have to drag me to court?
這樣的人你豈睜眼看他嗎？ 又叫我來受審嗎？
4 Who can bring something clean of what is unclean? No one.
誰能使潔淨之物出於污穢之中呢？ 無論誰也不能！
5 You have determined how long we shall live—the number of months, a time limit on our lives.
人的日子既然限定， 他的月數在你那裏， 你也派定他的界限，使他不能越過，
6 So leave us alone and give us some peace—so like a laborer we could enjoy a few hours of rest at the end of the day.
便求你轉眼不看他，使他得歇息， 直等他像雇工人完畢他的日子。
7 Even a tree that's cut down has the hope of sprouting again, of sending up shoots and continuing to live.
樹若被砍下， 還可指望發芽， 嫩枝生長不息；
8 Even though its roots grow old in the earth, and its stump dies in the ground,
其根雖然衰老在地裏， 幹也死在土中，
9 just a trickle of water will make it bud and grow branches like a young plant.
及至得了水氣，還要發芽， 又長枝條，像新栽的樹一樣。
10 But human beings die, their strength dwindles away; they perish, and where are they then?
但人死亡而消滅； 他氣絕，竟在何處呢？
11 Like water evaporating from a lake and a river that dries up and disappears,
海中的水絕盡， 江河消散乾涸。
12 so human beings lie down and don't get up again. Until the heavens cease to exist they will not awake from their sleep.
人也是如此，躺下不再起來， 等到天沒有了，仍不得復醒， 也不得從睡中喚醒。
13 I wish you would hide me in Sheol; conceal me there until your anger is gone. Set a definite time for me there, and remember me! (Sheol h7585)
惟願你把我藏在陰間， 存於隱密處，等你的忿怒過去； 願你為我定了日期，記念我。 (Sheol h7585)
14 Will the dead live again? Then I would have hope through all my time of trouble until my release comes.
人若死了豈能再活呢？ 我只要在我一切爭戰的日子， 等我被釋放的時候來到。
15 You would call and I would answer you; you would long for me, the being that you made.
你呼叫，我便回答； 你手所做的，你必羨慕。
16 Then you would look after me and wouldn't be watching me to see if I sinned.
但如今你數點我的腳步， 豈不窺察我的罪過嗎？
17 My sins would be sealed up in a bag and you would cover my guilt.
我的過犯被你封在囊中， 也縫嚴了我的罪孽。
18 But just as the mountains crumble and fall, and the rocks tumble down;
山崩變為無有； 磐石挪開原處。
19 as water wears away the stones, as floods wash away the soil, so you destroy the hope people have.
水流消磨石頭， 所流溢的洗去地上的塵土； 你也照樣滅絕人的指望。
20 You continually overpower them and they pass away; you distort their faces in death and send them away.
你攻擊人常常得勝，使他去世； 你改變他的容貌，叫他往而不回。
21 Their children may become important or fall from their positions, but they don't know or see any of this.
他兒子得尊榮，他也不知道， 降為卑，他也不覺得。
22 As people die they only know their own pain and are sad for themselves.”
但知身上疼痛， 心中悲哀。
