Job 14

1 Life is short and full of trouble,

Man born of a woman is short of days, and sated with harrowing trouble.

2 like a flower that blooms and withers, like a passing shadow that soon disappears.

Like a flower he cometh forth, and is cut down: and he fleeth like a shadow, and remaineth not.

3 Do you even notice me, God, and why do you have to drag me to court?

And yet on such a one dost thou open thy eyes, and me thou bringest into judgment with thee?

4 Who can bring something clean of what is unclean? No one.

Who can make a clean thing out of an unclean? not one [thing].

5 You have determined how long we shall live—the number of months, a time limit on our lives.

Seeing that his days are determined, the number of his months are [fixed] with thee, that thou hast set his bounds which he cannot pass:

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.

Turn thyself from him that he may recover from his pain, and be able to enjoy like a hired laborer his day.

7 Even a tree that's cut down has the hope of sprouting again, of sending up shoots and continuing to live.

For there is hope for the tree: if it be cut down, it may still sprout again, while its young shoot will not cease.

8 Even though its roots grow old in the earth, and its stump dies in the ground,

If even its root become old in the earth, and its stock die in the dust:

9 just a trickle of water will make it bud and grow branches like a young plant.

Yet through the scent of water will it flourish [again], and produce boughs as though It were newly planted.

10 But human beings die, their strength dwindles away; they perish, and where are they then?

But man dieth, and lieth powerless: yea, the son of earth departeth—and where is he?

11 Like water evaporating from a lake and a river that dries up and disappears,

The waters run off from the sea, and the river faileth and drieth up:

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.

So doth man lie down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they will not awake, and will not be roused out of their sleep.

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)

Oh who would grant that thou mightest hide me in the nether world, that thou mightest conceal me, until thy wrath be appeased, that thou mightest set for me a fixed time, and remember me then! (Sheol h7585)

14 Will the dead live again? Then I would have hope through all my time of trouble until my release comes.

Or, when a man dieth, will he live again? all the days of my time of service would I then wait, till [the hour of] my release were come.

15 You would call and I would answer you; you would long for me, the being that you made.

Do thou call, and I will truly answer thee: have a desire for the work of thy hands.

16 Then you would look after me and wouldn't be watching me to see if I sinned.

Yet now thou numberest my steps: and thou waitest not with [the punishment of] my sin.

17 My sins would be sealed up in a bag and you would cover my guilt.

Sealed up in a bag is my transgression, and thou yet addest to my iniquity.

18 But just as the mountains crumble and fall, and the rocks tumble down;

But truly a falling mountain will crumble, and [even] a rock is moved out of its place.

19 as water wears away the stones, as floods wash away the soil, so you destroy the hope people have.

The water weareth out stones; thou sweepest away their fragments [like] the dust of the earth: and so thou destroyest the hope of man.

20 You continually overpower them and they pass away; you distort their faces in death and send them away.

Thou assailest him with might without ceasing, till he passeth away: thou changest his countenance, and sendest him off.

21 Their children may become important or fall from their positions, but they don't know or see any of this.

His children acquire honor, but he knoweth it not: and they are esteemed little, but he perceiveth nothing of them.

22 As people die they only know their own pain and are sad for themselves.”

But his body. on him, feeleth pain, and his soul will mourn for him.