Job 14

14 ¹"Man, born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble. ²He comes up like a flower and withers; he flees like a shadow and does not last. ³Do you fix your eyes on such a person? And you bring me into judgment with you? ⁴Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one. ⁵Since his days are determined, the number of his months is with you, and you have set limits he cannot cross, ⁶look away from him, so he can rest, till he has served out his day like a hired worker.

⁷"For there is hope for a tree: if it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its shoots will not fail. ⁸Though its root grows old in the earth and its stump dies in the ground, ⁹at the scent of water it will bud and put out branches like a new plant. ¹⁰But a man dies and is laid low; a person breathes his last, and where is he? ¹¹As water disappears from a lake, and a river wastes away and dries up, ¹²so a man lies down and does not rise; till the heavens are no more, he will not awake or be roused from his sleep.

¹³"If only you would hide me in the grave, conceal me until your anger passes, set a fixed time for me, and remember me! ¹⁴If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I would wait, until my renewal comes. ¹⁵You would call, and I would answer you; you would long for the work of your hands. ¹⁶For then you would number my steps; you would not keep watch over my sin. ¹⁷My rebellion would be sealed up in a bag, and you would cover over my sin.

¹⁸"But as a mountain falls and crumbles away, and a rock is moved from its place, ¹⁹as water wears away the stones and its torrents wash away the soil of the earth, so you destroy the hope of man. ²⁰You overpower him forever, and he passes on; you disfigure his face and send him away. ²¹His sons come to honor, and he does not know it; they are brought low, and he does not notice. ²²He feels only the pain of his own body, and he mourns only for himself."