Job 14
1 homo natus de muliere brevi vivens tempore repletus multis miseriis
Life is short and full of trouble,
2 quasi flos egreditur et conteritur et fugit velut umbra et numquam in eodem statu permanet
like a flower that blooms and withers, like a passing shadow that soon disappears.
3 et dignum ducis super huiuscemodi aperire oculos tuos et adducere eum tecum in iudicium
Do you even notice me, God, and why do you have to drag me to court?
4 quis potest facere mundum de inmundo conceptum semine nonne tu qui solus es
Who can bring something clean of what is unclean? No one.
5 breves dies hominis sunt numerus mensuum eius apud te est constituisti terminos eius qui praeterire non poterunt
You have determined how long we shall live—the number of months, a time limit on our lives.
6 recede paululum ab eo ut quiescat donec optata veniat sicut mercennarii dies eius
So leave us alone and give us some peace—so like a laborer we could enjoy a few hours of rest at the end of the day.
7 lignum habet spem si praecisum fuerit rursum virescit et rami eius pullulant
Even a tree that's cut down has the hope of sprouting again, of sending up shoots and continuing to live.
8 si senuerit in terra radix eius et in pulvere emortuus fuerit truncus illius
Even though its roots grow old in the earth, and its stump dies in the ground,
9 ad odorem aquae germinabit et faciet comam quasi cum primum plantatum est
just a trickle of water will make it bud and grow branches like a young plant.
10 homo vero cum mortuus fuerit et nudatus atque consumptus ubi quaeso est
But human beings die, their strength dwindles away; they perish, and where are they then?
11 quomodo si recedant aquae de mari et fluvius vacuefactus arescat
Like water evaporating from a lake and a river that dries up and disappears,
12 sic homo cum dormierit non resurget donec adteratur caelum non evigilabit nec consurget de somno suo
so human beings lie down and don't get up again. Until the heavens cease to exist they will not awake from their sleep.
13 quis mihi hoc tribuat ut in inferno protegas me ut abscondas me donec pertranseat furor tuus et constituas mihi tempus in quo recorderis mei (Sheol h7585)
I wish you would hide me in Sheol; conceal me there until your anger is gone. Set a definite time for me there, and remember me! (Sheol h7585)
14 putasne mortuus homo rursum vivet cunctis diebus quibus nunc milito expecto donec veniat inmutatio mea
Will the dead live again? Then I would have hope through all my time of trouble until my release comes.
15 vocabis et ego respondebo tibi operi manuum tuarum porriges dexteram
You would call and I would answer you; you would long for me, the being that you made.
16 tu quidem gressus meos dinumerasti sed parces peccatis meis
Then you would look after me and wouldn't be watching me to see if I sinned.
17 signasti quasi in sacculo delicta mea sed curasti iniquitatem meam
My sins would be sealed up in a bag and you would cover my guilt.
18 mons cadens defluet et saxum transfertur de loco suo
But just as the mountains crumble and fall, and the rocks tumble down;
19 lapides excavant aquae et adluvione paulatim terra consumitur et homines ergo similiter perdes
as water wears away the stones, as floods wash away the soil, so you destroy the hope people have.
20 roborasti eum paululum ut in perpetuum pertransiret inmutabis faciem eius et emittes eum
You continually overpower them and they pass away; you distort their faces in death and send them away.
21 sive nobiles fuerint filii eius sive ignobiles non intelleget
Their children may become important or fall from their positions, but they don't know or see any of this.
22 attamen caro eius dum vivet dolebit et anima illius super semet ipso lugebit
As people die they only know their own pain and are sad for themselves.”
