Job 14 (Today's New International Version)

1 "Mortals, born of woman,¹ are of few days² and full of trouble.³ 2 They spring up like flowers⁴ and wither away;⁵ like fleeting shadows,⁶ they do not endure.⁷ 3 Do you fix your eye on such as these?⁸ Will you bring them^a before you for judgment?⁹ 4 Who can bring what is pure¹⁰ from the impure?¹¹ No one!¹² 5 The days of mortals are determined;¹³ you have decreed the number of their months¹⁴ and have set limits they cannot exceed.¹⁵ 6 So look away from us and leave us alone,¹⁶ till we have put in our time like hired laborers.¹⁷ 7 "At least there is hope for a tree:¹⁸ If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots¹⁹ will not fail.²⁰ 8 Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump²¹ die in the soil, 9 yet at the scent of water²² it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant.²³ 10 But human beings die and are laid low;²⁴ they breathe their last and are no more.²⁵ 11 As the water of a lake dries up or a riverbed becomes parched and dry,²⁶ 12 so they lie down and do not rise;²⁷ till the heavens are no more,²⁸ they will not awake or be roused from their sleep.²⁹ 13 "If only you would hide me in the grave³⁰ and conceal me till your anger has passed!³¹ If only you would set me a time and then remember³² me!³³ 14 If someone dies, will they live again? All the days of my hard service³⁴ I will wait for my renewal^b35 to come. 15 You will call and I will answer you;³⁶ you will long for the creature your hands have made.³⁷ 16 Surely then you will count my steps³⁸ but not keep track of my sin.³⁹ 17 My offenses will be sealed⁴⁰ up in a bag;⁴¹ you will cover over my sin.⁴² 18 "But as a mountain erodes and crumbles⁴³ and as a rock is moved from its place,⁴⁴ 19 as water wears away stones and torrents⁴⁵ wash away the soil,⁴⁶ so you destroy everyone's hope.⁴⁷ 20 You overpower them once for all, and they are gone;⁴⁸ you change their countenance and send them away.⁴⁹ 21 If their children are honored, they do not know it; if their offspring are brought low, they do not see it.⁵⁰ 22 They feel but the pain of their own bodies⁵¹ and mourn only for themselves.⁵²"