Job 14

14We are all born weak and helpless.

All lead the same short, troubled life.

²We grow and wither as quickly as flowers;

we disappear like shadows.

³Will you even look at me, God,

or put me on trial and judge me?

⁴Nothing clean can ever come

from anything as unclean as human beings.

⁵The length of their lives is decided beforehand—

the number of months they will live.

You have settled it, and it can’t be changed.

⁶Look away from them and leave them alone;^a

let them enjoy their hard life—if they can.^b

⁷There is hope for a tree that has been cut down;

it can come back to life and sprout.

⁸Even though its roots grow old,

and its stump dies in the ground,

⁹with water it will sprout like a young plant.

¹⁰But people die, and that is the end of them;

they die, and where are they then?

¹¹Like rivers that stop running,

and lakes that go dry,

¹²people die, never to rise.

They will never wake up while the sky endures;

they will never stir from their sleep.

¹³I wish you would hide me in the world of the dead;

let me be hidden until your anger is over,

and then set a time to remember me.

¹⁴If people die, can they come back to life?

But I will wait for better times,

wait till this time of trouble is ended.

¹⁵Then you will call, and I will answer,

and you will be pleased with me, your creature.

¹⁶Then you will watch every step I take,

but

you will not keep track of my sins.

¹⁷You will forgive them and put them away; you will wipe out all the wrongs I have done.

¹⁸There comes a time when mountains fall

and solid cliffs are moved away.

¹⁹Water will wear down rocks,

and heavy rain will wash away the soil;

so you destroy our hope for life.

²⁰You overpower someone and send him away for ever;

his face is twisted in death.

²¹His sons win honour, but he never knows it,

nor is he told when they are disgraced.

²²He feels only the pain of his own body

and the grief of his own mind.