Job: few days, and full of trouble
Mortals, born of woman, are of few days and full of trouble. They spring up like flowers and wither away; like fleeting shadows, they do not endure. Do you fix your eye on them? Will you bring them before you for judgment? Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one. A person's days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed. So look away from him and let him alone, till he has put in his time like a hired labourer. At least there is hope for a tree: if it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail. Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant. But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more. As the water of a lake dries up or a riverbed becomes parched and dry, so he lies down and does not rise; till the heavens are no more, people will not awake or be roused from their sleep. If only you would hide me in the grave and conceal me till your anger has passed. If only you would set me a time and then remember me. If someone dies, will they live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come. You will call and I will answer you; you will long for the creature your hands have made. Surely then you will count my steps but not keep track of my sin. My offences will be sealed up in a pouch; you will cover over my sin. But as a mountain erodes and crumbles and as a rock is moved from its place, as water wears away stones and torrents wash away the soil, so you destroy a person's hope. You overpower them once for all, and they are gone; you change their countenance and send them away. If their children are honoured, they do not know it; if their offspring are brought low, they do not see it. They feel but the pain of their own bodies and mourn only for themselves.
Mortals, born of woman,
are of few days and full of trouble.
Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.
They spring up like flowers and wither away;
like fleeting shadows, they do not endure.
He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
Do you fix your eye on them?
Will you bring them before you for judgment?
And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee?
Who can bring what is pure from the impure?
No one.
Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.
A person's days are determined;
you have decreed the number of his months
and have set limits he cannot exceed.
Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
So look away from him and let him alone,
till he has put in his time like a hired labourer.
Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day.
At least there is hope for a tree:
if it is cut down, it will sprout again,
and its new shoots will not fail.
For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.
Its roots may grow old in the ground
and its stump die in the soil,
Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground;
yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put forth shoots like a plant.
Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.
But a man dies and is laid low;
he breathes his last and is no more.
But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?
As the water of a lake dries up
or a riverbed becomes parched and dry,
As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up:
so he lies down and does not rise;
till the heavens are no more, people will not awake
or be roused from their sleep.
So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.
If only you would hide me in the grave
and conceal me till your anger has passed.
If only you would set me a time
and then remember me.
O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!
If someone dies, will they live again?
All the days of my hard service
I will wait for my renewal to come.
If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.
You will call and I will answer you;
you will long for the creature your hands have made.
Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.
Surely then you will count my steps
but not keep track of my sin.
For now thou numberest my steps: dost thou not watch over my sin?
My offences will be sealed up in a pouch;
you will cover over my sin.
My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity.
But as a mountain erodes and crumbles
and as a rock is moved from its place,
And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of his place.
as water wears away stones
and torrents wash away the soil,
so you destroy a person's hope.
The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man.
You overpower them once for all, and they are gone;
you change their countenance and send them away.
Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth: thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away.
If their children are honoured, they do not know it;
if their offspring are brought low, they do not see it.
His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.
They feel but the pain of their own bodies
and mourn only for themselves.
But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn.