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Job continues to speak

14 Everyone that a woman gives birth to lives only for a short time.
    The days of his life are full of trouble.
He is like a flower that grows
    and then it soon dies.
His life quickly disappears like a shadow.
I am only a human like that,
    so why do you watch me so carefully?
Why do you want to bring me into a court to judge me?
People are not clean and pure.
    Nobody can change them to become pure.
You have decided how long people should live.
    You control the number of months that each person will live.
    Nobody can live any longer than that.
So do not watch us! Leave us alone!
We must work for the time that you have decided.
    Please leave us to work in peace.

If someone cuts down a tree,
    the tree may not die.
    New branches may grow from it.
Its roots in the ground may be old.
    The part of the tree that remains may be nearly dead.
But if only a little water comes near to it,
    it will start to grow again.
It will make new branches,
    like a young plant.
10 But when people lose their strength and they die,
    that is the end.
    After they die, where do they go?
11 When the water disappears from a lake or a river,
    they become dry.
12 It is the same with people when they die.
    They will never rise to live again.
As long as the sky remains above the earth,
    they will continue to sleep in death.

13 Please hide me in the place where dead people go!
    Hide me there until you are no longer angry.
Decide how long I must be there,
    and then remember me again!
14 If a man dies, will he live again?
    If I knew that, I would suffer patiently.
    I would wait until my troubles have finished.
15 You would call me and I would answer you.
You would want to see me again,
    because your own hands created me.
16 You would watch me carefully,
    but you would not make a note of my sins.
17 You would forgive me for my sins.
    You would hide them away.

18 But mountains fall down and they break into pieces,
    Rocks fall down from their places.
19 Stones become sand when water pours over them.
    Floods wash away soil.
In the same way, you remove hope from a person's life.
20 Finally, you bring his life to an end.
    He leaves this world.
You change his face in death
    and you send him away.
21 If his sons become famous,
    he does not know about it.
If they become ashamed,
    he does not know that either.
22 A dead person thinks only about himself.
    He feels his own pain and he is very sad.’

14 “Mortals, born of woman,(A)
    are of few days(B) and full of trouble.(C)
They spring up like flowers(D) and wither away;(E)
    like fleeting shadows,(F) they do not endure.(G)
Do you fix your eye on them?(H)
    Will you bring them[a] before you for judgment?(I)
Who can bring what is pure(J) from the impure?(K)
    No one!(L)
A person’s days are determined;(M)
    you have decreed the number of his months(N)
    and have set limits he cannot exceed.(O)
So look away from him and let him alone,(P)
    till he has put in his time like a hired laborer.(Q)

“At least there is hope for a tree:(R)
    If it is cut down, it will sprout again,
    and its new shoots(S) will not fail.(T)
Its roots may grow old in the ground
    and its stump(U) die in the soil,
yet at the scent of water(V) it will bud
    and put forth shoots like a plant.(W)
10 But a man dies and is laid low;(X)
    he breathes his last and is no more.(Y)
11 As the water of a lake dries up
    or a riverbed becomes parched and dry,(Z)
12 so he lies down and does not rise;(AA)
    till the heavens are no more,(AB) people will not awake
    or be roused from their sleep.(AC)

13 “If only you would hide me in the grave(AD)
    and conceal me till your anger has passed!(AE)
If only you would set me a time
    and then remember(AF) me!(AG)
14 If someone dies, will they live again?
    All the days of my hard service(AH)
    I will wait for my renewal[b](AI) to come.
15 You will call and I will answer you;(AJ)
    you will long for the creature your hands have made.(AK)
16 Surely then you will count my steps(AL)
    but not keep track of my sin.(AM)
17 My offenses will be sealed(AN) up in a bag;(AO)
    you will cover over my sin.(AP)

18 “But as a mountain erodes and crumbles(AQ)
    and as a rock is moved from its place,(AR)
19 as water wears away stones
    and torrents(AS) wash away the soil,(AT)
    so you destroy a person’s hope.(AU)
20 You overpower them once for all, and they are gone;(AV)
    you change their countenance and send them away.(AW)
21 If their children are honored, they do not know it;
    if their offspring are brought low, they do not see it.(AX)
22 They feel but the pain of their own bodies(AY)
    and mourn only for themselves.(AZ)

Footnotes

  1. Job 14:3 Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac; Hebrew me
  2. Job 14:14 Or release