Job 14
1 Homo natus de muliere, brevi vivens tempore, repletur multis miseriis.
“We humans are very frail. We live only a short time, and we experience a lot of trouble.
2 Qui quasi flos egreditur et conteritur, et fugit velut umbra, et numquam in eodem statu permanet.
We disappear quickly, like flowers that grow from the ground quickly and then wither and die [SIM]. We are like shadows that disappear [when the sun stops shining].
3 Et dignum ducis super huiuscemodi aperire oculos tuos, et adducere eum tecum in iudicium?
[Yahweh, ] why do you keep watching me [to see if I am doing something that is wrong] [RHQ]? Are you wanting to take me to court to judge me?
4 Quis potest facere mundum de immundo conceptum semine? nonne tu qui solus es?
People are sinners from the time when they are born; who can cause them to be sinless? No one [RHQ]!
5 Breves dies hominis sunt: numerus mensium eius apud te est: constituisti terminos eius, qui praeteriri non poterunt.
You have decided how long our lives will be. You have decided how many months we will live, and we cannot live more months than the (limit/number of months) that you have decided.
6 Recede paululum ab eo, ut quiescat, donec optata veniat, sicut mercenarii, dies eius.
So please stop examining us, and allow us to be alone, until/while we finish our time [here on earth], like a man finishes his work [at the end of the day].
7 Lignum habet spem: si praecisum fuerit, rursum virescit, et rami eius pullulant.
If someone cuts a tree down, we hope that it will sprout again and grow new branches.
8 Si senuerit in terra radix eius, et in pulvere emortuus fuerit truncus illius,
Its roots in the ground may be very old, and its stump may decay,
9 Ad odorem aquae germinabit, et faciet comam quasi cum primum plantatum est:
but if some water falls on it, it may bud/sprout and send up shoots like a young plant.
10 Homo vero cum mortuus fuerit, et nudatus atque consumptus, ubi quaeso est?
But when we people lose all our strength and die, we stop breathing and then we are gone [forever].
11 Quomodo si recedant aquae de mari, et fluvius vacuefactus arescat:
Just like water evaporates from the ocean, or like a riverbed dries up,
12 Sic homo cum dormierit, non resurget, donec atteratur caelum, non evigilabit, nec consurget de somno suo.
people [lie down and die and] do not get up again. Until the heavens disappear, people who die [EUP] do not wake up, and no one can wake them up.
13 Quis mihi hoc tribuat, ut in inferno protegas me, et abscondas me, donec pertranseat furor tuus, et constituas mihi tempus, in quo recorderis mei? (Sheol h7585)
[“Yahweh, ] I wish that you would put me safely in the place of the dead and forget about me until you are no longer angry with me. I wish that you would decide how much time I would spend there, and then remember [that] I [am there]. (Sheol h7585)
14 Putasne mortuus homo rursum vivat? cunctis diebus, quibus nunc milito, expecto donec veniat immutatio mea.
When we humans die, we will certainly not live again [RHQ]. If [I knew that] we would live again, I would wait patiently, and I would wait for you to release me [from my sufferings].
15 Vocabis me, et ego respondebo tibi: operi manuum tuarum porriges dexteram.
You would call me, and I would answer. You would be eager to see me, one of the creatures that you had made.
16 Tu quidem gressus meos dinumerasti, sed parce peccatis meis.
You would take care of [MET] me, instead of watching me to see if I would sin.
17 Signasti quasi in sacculo delicta mea, sed curasti iniquitatem meam.
[It is as though the record of] my sins would be sealed in a small bag, and you would cover them up.
18 Mons cadens defluit, et saxum transfertur de loco suo.
“But, just like mountains crumble and rocks fall down from a cliff,
19 Lapides excavant aquae, et alluvione paulatim terra consumitur: et hominem ergo similiter perdes.
and just like water slowly wears away the stones, and just like floods wash away soil, [you eventually destroy us]; you do not allow us to continue to (hope/confidently expect) [that we will keep on living].
20 Roborasti eum paululum ut in perpetuum transiret: immutabis faciem eius, et emittes eum.
You always defeat us, and then we die [EUP]. You cause our faces to look ugly after we die, and you send us away.
21 Sive nobiles fuerint filii eius, sive ignobiles, non intelliget.
[When we die] we do not know if our sons will grow up and [do things that will cause them to] be honored. And if they become disgraced, we do not see that, [either].
22 Attamen caro eius dum vivet dolebit, et anima illius super semetipso lugebit.
We will feel our own pains; we will not feel anything else; we will be sorry for ourselves, not for anyone else.”
