14:1 “Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.
14:2 He springs up like a flower and withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
14:3 Do you fix your eye on such a one? Will you bring him before you for judgment?
14:4 Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one!
14:5 Man’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.
14:6 So look away from him and let him alone, till he has put in his time like a hired man.
14:7 “At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail.
14:8 Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil,
14:9 yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant.
14:10 But man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more.
14:11 As water disappears from the sea or a riverbed becomes parched and dry,
14:12 so man lies down and does not rise; till the heavens are no more, men will not awake or be roused from their sleep.
14:13 “If only you would hide me in the grave and conceal me till your anger has passed! If only you would set me a time and then remember me!
14:14 If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come.
14:15 You will call and I will answer you; you will long for the creature your hands have made.
14:16 Surely then you will count my steps but not keep track of my sin.
14:17 My offenses will be sealed up in a bag; you will cover over my sin.
14:18 “But as a mountain erodes and crumbles and as a rock is moved from its place,
14:19 as water wears away stones and torrents wash away the soil, so you destroy man’s hope.
14:20 You overpower him once for all, and he is gone; you change his countenance and send him away.
14:21 If his sons are honored, he does not know it; if they are brought low, he does not see it.
14:22 He feels but the pain of his own body and mourns only for himself.”
14:1 Man, born of woman, / Is of few days and full of trouble.
14:2 He comes forth like a blossom and is cut down, / He also flees like a shadow and does not remain.
14:3 And do You open Your eyes upon such a one / And bring me into litigation with You?
14:4 Who can bring a clean thing out from the unclean? / No one!
14:5 Since his days are determined, / And the number of his months is with You; / Since You have appointed his bounds, and he cannot go beyond;
14:6 Look away from him that he may rest, / Until he fulfills his day like a hired hand.
14:7 For there is hope for a tree: / If it is cut down, it will sprout again, / And its tender shoot will not cease.
14:8 Though its root grows old in the earth, / And its trunk dies in the dirt,
14:9 At the scent of water it will bud / And will produce branches like a new plant.
14:10 But a man dies and is laid low; / Yes, a man expires, and then where is he?
14:11 The waters of the sea recede, / And the river becomes parched and dried up:
14:12 So a man lies down and does not rise up; / Until the heavens are no more, he will not awake, / Nor will he be roused from his sleep.
14:13 Oh, that You would hide me in Sheol, / That You would conceal me until Your anger has passed, / That You would set me an appointed time and remember me!
14:14 If a man dies, will he live again? / All the days of my service I would wait, / Until a change for me should come.
14:15 You would call, and I would answer You; / You would long after the work of Your hands.
14:16 For now You number my steps. / Do You not watch over my sin?
14:17 My transgression has been sealed up in a bag, / And You have fastened up my iniquity.
14:18 However the mountain falls and crumbles, / And the rock moves from its place;
14:19 Waters wear away stones; / Their torrents wash away the dust of the earth: / So You destroy the hope of man.
14:20 You prevail forever against him, and he passes away; / You change his countenance and send him away.
14:21 His sons gain honor, but he does not know it; / And they become insignificant, but he does not perceive it.
14:22 Only the pain of his own flesh does he feel, / And his own soul mourns for him.