The Message Bible MSG
World English Bible WEB
1 "We're all adrift in the same boat: too few days, too many troubles.
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"Man, who is born of a woman, Is of few days, and full of trouble.
2 We spring up like wildflowers in the desert and then wilt, transient as the shadow of a cloud.
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He comes forth like a flower, and is cut down. He also flees like a shadow, and doesn't continue.
3 Do you occupy your time with such fragile wisps? Why even bother hauling me into court?
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Do you open your eyes on such a one, And bring me into judgment with you?
4 There's nothing much to us to start with; how do you expect us to amount to anything?
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Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.
5 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.
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Seeing his days are determined, The number of his months is with you, And you have appointed his bounds that he can't pass;
6 So why not give us a break? Ease up! Even ditchdiggers get occasional days off.
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Look away from him, that he may rest, Until he shall accomplish, as a hireling, his day.
7 For a tree there is always hope. Chop it down and it still has a chance - its roots can put out fresh sprouts.
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"For there is hope for a tree, If it is cut down, that it will sprout again, That the tender branch of it will not cease.
8 Even if its roots are old and gnarled, its stump long dormant,
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Though the root of it grows old in the earth, And the stock of it dies in the ground;
9 At the first whiff of water it comes to life, buds and grows like a sapling.
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Yet through the scent of water it will bud, And put forth boughs like a plant.
10 But men and women? They die and stay dead. They breathe their last, and that's it.
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But man dies, and is laid low. Yes, man gives up the spirit, and where is he?
11 Like lakes and rivers that have dried up, parched reminders of what once was,
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As the waters fail from the sea, And the river wastes and dries up,
12 So mortals lie down and never get up, never wake up again - never.
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So man lies down and doesn't rise; Until the heavens are no more, they shall not awake, Nor be roused out of their sleep.
13 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.
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"Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, That you would keep me secret, until your wrath is past, That you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14 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!
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If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my warfare would I wait, Until my release should come.
15 Homesick with longing for the creature you made, you'll call - and I'll answer!
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You would call, and I would answer you. You would have a desire to the work of your hands.
16 You'll watch over every step I take, but you won't keep track of my missteps.
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But now you number my steps. Don't you watch over my sin?
17 My sins will be stuffed in a sack and thrown into the sea - sunk in deep ocean.
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My disobedience is sealed up in a bag. You fasten up my iniquity.
18 "Meanwhile, mountains wear down and boulders break up,
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"But the mountain falling comes to nothing; The rock is removed out of its place;
19 Stones wear smooth and soil erodes, as you relentlessly grind down our hope.
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The waters wear the stones; The torrents of it wash away the dust of the earth: So you destroy the hope of man.
20 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.
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You forever prevail against him, and he passes; You change his face, and send him away.
21 If our children do well for themselves, we never know it; if they do badly, we're spared the hurt.
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His sons come to honor, and he doesn't know it; They are brought low, but he doesn't perceive it of them.
22 Body and soul, that's it for us - a lifetime of pain, a lifetime of sorrow."
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But his flesh on him has pain; His soul within him mourns."