English Standard Version ESV
The Message Bible MSG
1 "Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble.
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"We're all adrift in the same boat: too few days, too many troubles.
2 He comes out like a flower and withers; he flees like a shadow and continues not.
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We spring up like wildflowers in the desert and then wilt, transient as the shadow of a cloud.
3 And do you open your eyes on such a one and bring me into judgment with you?
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Do you occupy your time with such fragile wisps? Why even bother hauling me into court?
4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one.
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There's nothing much to us to start with; how do you expect us to amount to anything?
5 Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,
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Mortals have a limited life span. You've already decided how long we'll live - you set the boundary and no one can cross it.
6 look away from him and leave him alone, that he may enjoy, like a hired hand, his day.
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So why not give us a break? Ease up! Even ditchdiggers get occasional days off.
7 "For there is hope for a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease.
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For a tree there is always hope. Chop it down and it still has a chance - its roots can put out fresh sprouts.
8 Though its root grow old in the earth, and its stump die in the soil,
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Even if its roots are old and gnarled, its stump long dormant,
9 yet at the scent of water it will bud and put out branches like a young plant.
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At the first whiff of water it comes to life, buds and grows like a sapling.
10 But a man dies and is laid low; man breathes his last, and where is he?
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But men and women? They die and stay dead. They breathe their last, and that's it.
11 As waters fail from a lake and a river wastes away and dries up,
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Like lakes and rivers that have dried up, parched reminders of what once was,
12 so a man lies down and rises not again; till the heavens are no more he will not awake or be roused out of his sleep.
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So mortals lie down and never get up, never wake up again - never.
13 Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would conceal me until your wrath be past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
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Why don't you just bury me alive, get me out of the way until your anger cools? But don't leave me there! Set a date when you'll see me again.
14 If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my service I would wait, till my renewal should come.
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If we humans die, will we live again? That's my question. All through these difficult days I keep hoping, waiting for the final change - for resurrection!
15 You would call, and I would answer you; you would long for the work of your hands.
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Homesick with longing for the creature you made, you'll call - and I'll answer!
16 For then you would number my steps; you would not keep watch over my sin;
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You'll watch over every step I take, but you won't keep track of my missteps.
17 my transgression would be sealed up in a bag, and you would cover over my iniquity.
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My sins will be stuffed in a sack and thrown into the sea - sunk in deep ocean.
18 "But the mountain falls and crumbles away, and the rock is removed from its place;
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"Meanwhile, mountains wear down and boulders break up,
19 the waters wear away the stones; the torrents wash away the soil of the earth; so you destroy the hope of man.
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Stones wear smooth and soil erodes, as you relentlessly grind down our hope.
20 You prevail forever against him, and he passes; you change his countenance, and send him away.
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You're too much for us. As always, you get the last word. We don't like it and our faces show it, but you send us off anyway.
21 His sons come to honor, and he does not know it; they are brought low, and he perceives it not.
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If our children do well for themselves, we never know it; if they do badly, we're spared the hurt.
22 He feels only the pain of his own body, and he mourns only for himself."
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Body and soul, that's it for us - a lifetime of pain, a lifetime of sorrow."
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.