< Job 14 >
1 Man, who is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble.
2 He comes forth like a flower, and is cut down. He too flees as a shadow, and does not continue.
3 And do thou open thine eyes upon such a one, and bring me into judgment with thee?
4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.
5 Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months is with thee, and thou have appointed his bounds that he cannot pass,
6 look away from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as a hireling, his day.
7 For there is hope of a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch of it will not cease.
8 Though the root of it grows old in the earth, and the trunk of it dies in the ground,
9 yet through the scent of water it will bud, and put forth boughs like a plant.
10 But man dies, and is laid low. Yea, man gives up the spirit, and where is he?
11 As the waters fail from the sea, and the river wastes away and dries up,
12 so man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be roused out of their sleep.
13 O that thou would hide me in Sheol, that thou would keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou would appoint for me a set time, and remember me! (Sheol )
14 If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my warfare I would wait till my release should come.
15 Thou would call, and I would answer thee. Thou would have a desire to the work of thy hands.
16 But now thou number my steps. Do thou not watch over my sin?
17 My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou fasten up my iniquity.
18 But the falling mountain comes to nothing, and the rock is removed out of its place.
19 The waters wear the stones. The overflowings of it wash away the dust of the earth. So thou destroy the hope of man.
20 Thou prevail forever against him, and he passes. Thou change his countenance, and send him away.
21 His sons come to honor, and he does not know it, and they are brought low, but he does not perceive it of them.
22 But his flesh upon him has pain, and his soul within him mourns.
