The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 "A human being, born from a woman, lives a short, trouble-filled life.
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As for man, the son of woman, his days are short and full of trouble.
2 He comes up like a flower and withers away, flees like a shadow, doesn't last.
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He comes out like a flower, and is cut down: he goes in flight like a shade, and is never seen again.
3 You fix your eyes on a creature like this? You drag him to court with you?
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Is it on such a one as this that your eyes are fixed, with the purpose of judging him?
4 Who can bring what is pure from something impure? No one!
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If only a clean thing might come out of an unclean! But it is not possible.
5 Since his days are fixed in advance, the number of his months is known to you, and you have fixed the limits which he can't cross;
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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;
6 look away from him, and let him be; so that, like a hired worker, he can finish his day in peace.
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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.
7 "For a tree, there is hope that if cut down, it will sprout again, that its shoots will continue to grow.
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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.
8 Even if its roots grow old in the earth and its stump dies in the ground,
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Though its root may be old in the earth, and its cut-off end may be dead in the dust;
9 yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth branches like a young plant.
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Still, at the smell of water, it will make buds, and put out branches like a young plant.
10 But when a human being grows weak and dies, he expires; and then where is he?
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But man comes to his death and is gone: he gives up his spirit, and where is he?
11 Just as water in a lake disappears, as a river shrinks and dries up;
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The waters go from a pool, and a river becomes waste and dry;
12 so a person lies down and doesn't arise until the sky no longer exists; it will not awaken, it won't be roused from its sleep.
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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.
13 "I wish you would hide me in Sh'ol, conceal me until your anger has passed, then fix a time and remember me!
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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!
14 If a man dies, will he live again? I will wait all the days of my life for my change to come.
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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.
15 You will call, and I will answer you; you will long to see what you made again.
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At the sound of your voice I would give an answer, and you would have a desire for the work of your hands.
16 Whereas now you count each step of mine, then you will not keep watch for my sin.
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For now my steps are numbered by you, and my sin is not overlooked.
17 You will seal up my crime in a bag and cover over my iniquity.
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My wrongdoing is corded up in a bag, and my sin is shut up safe.
18 "Just as a mountain erodes and falls away, its rock is removed from its place,
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But truly a mountain falling comes to dust, and a rock is moved from its place;
19 the water wears away its stones, and the floods wash away its soil, so you destroy a person's hope.
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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.
20 You overpower him, and he passes on; you change his appearance and send him away.
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You overcome him for ever, and he is gone; his face is changed in death, and you send him away.
21 His children earn honor, but he doesn't know it; or they are brought low, but he doesn't notice.
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His sons come to honour, and he has no knowledge of it; they are made low, but he is not conscious of it.
22 He feels pain only for his own flesh; he laments only for himself."
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Only his flesh still has pain, and his soul is sad.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.