< Job 14 >
1 “We humans are very frail. We live only a short time, and we experience a lot of trouble.
Man born of a woman is short of days, and sated with harrowing trouble.
2 We disappear quickly, like flowers that grow from the ground quickly and then wither and die [SIM]. We are like shadows that disappear [when the sun stops shining].
Like a flower he cometh forth, and is cut down: and he fleeth like a shadow, and remaineth not.
3 [Yahweh, ] why do you keep watching me [to see if I am doing something that is wrong] [RHQ]? Are you wanting to take me to court to judge me?
And yet on such a one dost thou open thy eyes, and me thou bringest into judgment with thee?
4 People are sinners from the time when they are born; who can cause them to be sinless? No one [RHQ]!
Who can make a clean thing out of an unclean? not one [thing].
5 You have decided how long our lives will be. You have decided how many months we will live, and we cannot live more months than the (limit/number of months) that you have decided.
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 please stop examining us, and allow us to be alone, until/while we finish our time [here on earth], like a man finishes his work [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 If someone cuts a tree down, we hope that it will sprout again and grow new branches.
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 Its roots in the ground may be very old, and its stump may decay,
If even its root become old in the earth, and its stock die in the dust:
9 but if some water falls on it, it may bud/sprout and send up shoots 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 when we people lose all our strength and die, we stop breathing and then we are gone [forever].
But man dieth, and lieth powerless: yea, the son of earth departeth—and where is he?
11 Just like water evaporates from the ocean, or like a riverbed dries up,
The waters run off from the sea, and the river faileth and drieth up:
12 people [lie down and die and] do not get up again. Until the heavens disappear, people who die [EUP] do not wake up, and no one can wake them up.
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 [“Yahweh, ] I wish that you would put me safely in the place of the dead and forget about me until you are no longer angry with me. I wish that you would decide how much time I would spend there, and then remember [that] I [am there]. (Sheol )
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 )
14 When we humans die, we will certainly not live again [RHQ]. If [I knew that] we would live again, I would wait patiently, and I would wait for you to release me [from my sufferings].
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 me, and I would answer. You would be eager to see me, one of the creatures that you had made.
Do thou call, and I will truly answer thee: have a desire for the work of thy hands.
16 You would take care of [MET] me, instead of watching me to see if I would sin.
Yet now thou numberest my steps: and thou waitest not with [the punishment of] my sin.
17 [It is as though the record of] my sins would be sealed in a small bag, and you would cover them up.
Sealed up in a bag is my transgression, and thou yet addest to my iniquity.
18 “But, just like mountains crumble and rocks fall down from a cliff,
But truly a falling mountain will crumble, and [even] a rock is moved out of its place.
19 and just like water slowly wears away the stones, and just like floods wash away soil, [you eventually destroy us]; you do not allow us to continue to (hope/confidently expect) [that we will keep on living].
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 always defeat us, and then we die [EUP]. You cause our faces to look ugly after we die, and you send us away.
Thou assailest him with might without ceasing, till he passeth away: thou changest his countenance, and sendest him off.
21 [When we die] we do not know if our sons will grow up and [do things that will cause them to] be honored. And if they become disgraced, we do not see that, [either].
His children acquire honor, but he knoweth it not: and they are esteemed little, but he perceiveth nothing of them.
22 We will feel our own pains; we will not feel anything else; we will be sorry for ourselves, not for anyone else.”
But his body. on him, feeleth pain, and his soul will mourn for him.