New International Reader's Version NIRV
New International Version NIV
1 They have only a few days to live. Their lives are full of trouble.
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“Mortals, born of woman, are of few days and full of trouble.
2 They grow like flowers, and then they dry up. They are like shadows that quickly disappear.
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They spring up like flowers and wither away; like fleeting shadows, they do not endure.
3 "God, why do you keep looking at someone like me? Are you planning to take me to court?
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Do you fix your eye on them? Will you bring them before you for judgment?
4 Who can bring what is pure from something that isn't pure? No one!
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Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one!
5 You decide how long anyone will live. You have established the number of his months. You have set a limit to the number of his days.
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A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.
6 So look away from him. Leave him alone. Let him put in his time like a hired worker.
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So look away from him and let him alone, till he has put in his time like a hired laborer.
7 "At least there is hope for a tree. If it's cut down, it will begin to grow again. New branches will appear on it.
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“At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail.
8 Its roots may grow old in the ground. Its stump may die in the soil.
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Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil,
9 But when it smells water, it will begin to grow. It will send out new growth like a plant.
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yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant.
10 No man is like that. When he dies, he is buried in a grave. He takes his last breath. Then he is gone.
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But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more.
11 Water disappears from lakes. Riverbeds become empty and dry.
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As the water of a lake dries up or a riverbed becomes parched and dry,
12 In the same way, a man lies down and never gets up. He won't wake up or rise from his sleep until the heavens are gone.
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so he lies down and does not rise; till the heavens are no more, people will not awake or be roused from their sleep.
13 "I wish you would hide me in a grave! I wish you would cover me up until your anger passes by! I wish you would set the time for me to spend in the grave and then bring me back up!
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“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 If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard work I will wait for the time when you give me new life.
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If someone dies, will they live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come.
15 You will call out to me, and I will answer you. Your hands created me. So you will long for me.
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You will call and I will answer you; you will long for the creature your hands have made.
16 Then you will count every step I take. But you won't keep track of my sin.
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Surely then you will count my steps but not keep track of my sin.
17 The wrong things I've done will be sealed up in a bag. You will wipe out my sins by forgiving them.
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My offenses will be sealed up in a bag; you will cover over my sin.
18 "A mountain wears away and crumbles. A rock is moved from its place.
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“But as a mountain erodes and crumbles and as a rock is moved from its place,
19 Water wears stones away. Storms wash soil away. In the same way, you destroy our hope.
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as water wears away stones and torrents wash away the soil, so you destroy a person’s hope.
20 You overpower us completely, and then we're gone. You change the way we look and send us to our graves.
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You overpower them once for all, and they are gone; you change their countenance and send them away.
21 If our children are honored, we don't even know it. If they are dishonored, we don't even see it.
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If their children are honored, they do not know it; if their offspring are brought low, they do not see it.
22 All we feel is the pain of our own bodies. We are full of sadness only for ourselves."
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They feel but the pain of their own bodies and mourn only for themselves.”
Holy Bible, New International Reader's Version® Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.