The Bible in Basic English BBE
Good News Translation GNT
1 As for man, the son of woman, his days are short and full of trouble.
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We are all born weak and helpless. All lead the same short, troubled life.
2 He comes out like a flower, and is cut down: he goes in flight like a shade, and is never seen again.
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We grow and wither as quickly as flowers; we disappear like shadows.
3 Is it on such a one as this that your eyes are fixed, with the purpose of judging him?
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Will you even look at me, God, or put me on trial and judge me?
4 If only a clean thing might come out of an unclean! But it is not possible.
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Nothing clean can ever come from anything as unclean as human beings.
5 If his days are ordered, and you have knowledge of the number of his months, having given him a fixed limit past which he may not go;
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The length of our lives is decided beforehand - the number of months we will live. You have settled it, and it can't be changed.
6 Let your eyes be turned away from him, and take your hand from him, so that he may have pleasure at the end of his day, like a servant working for payment.
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Look away from us and leave us alone; let us enjoy our hard life - if we can.
7 For there is hope of a tree; if it is cut down, it will come to life again, and its branches will not come to an end.
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There is hope for a tree that has been cut down; it can come back to life and sprout.
8 Though its root may be old in the earth, and its cut-off end may be dead in the dust;
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Even though its roots grow old, and its stump dies in the ground,
9 Still, at the smell of water, it will make buds, and put out branches like a young plant.
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with water it will sprout like a young plant.
10 But man comes to his death and is gone: he gives up his spirit, and where is he?
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But we die, and that is the end of us; we die, and where are we then?
11 The waters go from a pool, and a river becomes waste and dry;
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Like rivers that stop running, and lakes that go dry,
12 So man goes down to his last resting-place and comes not again: till the heavens come to an end, they will not be awake or come out of their sleep.
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people die, never to rise. They will never wake up while the sky endures; they will never stir from their sleep.
13 If only you would keep me safe in the underworld, putting me in a secret place till your wrath is past, giving me a fixed time when I might come to your memory again!
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I wish you would hide me in the world of the dead; let me be hidden until your anger is over, and then set a time to remember me.
14 If death takes a man, will he come to life again? All the days of my trouble I would be waiting, till the time came for me to be free.
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If a man dies, can he come back to life? But I will wait for better times, wait till this time of trouble is ended.
15 At the sound of your voice I would give an answer, and you would have a desire for the work of your hands.
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Then you will call, and I will answer, and you will be pleased with me, your creature.
16 For now my steps are numbered by you, and my sin is not overlooked.
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Then you will watch every step I take, but you will not keep track of my sins.
17 My wrongdoing is corded up in a bag, and my sin is shut up safe.
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You will forgive them and put them away; you will wipe out all the wrongs I have done.
18 But truly a mountain falling comes to dust, and a rock is moved from its place;
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There comes a time when mountains fall and solid cliffs are moved away.
19 The stones are crushed small by the force of the waters; the dust of the earth is washed away by their overflowing: and so you put an end to the hope of man.
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Water will wear down rocks, and heavy rain will wash away the soil; so you destroy our hope for life.
20 You overcome him for ever, and he is gone; his face is changed in death, and you send him away.
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You overpower us and send us away forever; our faces are twisted in death.
21 His sons come to honour, and he has no knowledge of it; they are made low, but he is not conscious of it.
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Our children win honor, but we never know it, nor are we told when they are disgraced.
22 Only his flesh still has pain, and his soul is sad.
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We feel only the pain of our own bodies and the grief of our own minds.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.