< Job 14 >
1 “We humans are very frail. We live only a short time, and we experience a lot of 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].
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?
4 People are sinners from the time when they are born; who can cause them to be sinless? No one [RHQ]!
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.
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].
7 If someone cuts a tree down, we hope that it will sprout again and grow new branches.
8 Its roots in the ground may be very old, and its stump may decay,
9 but if some water falls on it, it may bud/sprout and send up shoots like a young plant.
10 But when we people lose all our strength and die, we stop breathing and then we are gone [forever].
11 Just like water evaporates from the ocean, or like a riverbed dries 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.
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 )
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].
15 You would call me, and I would answer. You would be eager to see me, one of the creatures that you had made.
16 You would take care of [MET] me, instead of watching me to see if I would sin.
17 [It is as though the record of] my sins would be sealed in a small bag, and you would cover them up.
18 “But, just like mountains crumble and rocks fall down from a cliff,
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].
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.
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].
22 We will feel our own pains; we will not feel anything else; we will be sorry for ourselves, not for anyone else.”
