New International Version NIV
New International Reader's Version NIRV
1 “Mortals, born of woman, are of few days and full of trouble.
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They have only a few days to live. Their lives are full of trouble.
2 They spring up like flowers and wither away; like fleeting shadows, they do not endure.
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They grow like flowers, and then they dry up. They are like shadows that quickly disappear.
3 Do you fix your eye on them? Will you bring them before you for judgment?
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"God, why do you keep looking at someone like me? Are you planning to take me to court?
4 Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one!
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Who can bring what is pure from something that isn't pure? No one!
5 A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.
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You decide how long anyone will live. You have established the number of his months. You have set a limit to the number of his days.
6 So look away from him and let him alone, till he has put in his time like a hired laborer.
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So look away from him. Leave him alone. Let him put in his time like a hired worker.
7 “At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail.
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"At least there is hope for a tree. If it's cut down, it will begin to grow again. New branches will appear on it.
8 Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil,
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Its roots may grow old in the ground. Its stump may die in the soil.
9 yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant.
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But when it smells water, it will begin to grow. It will send out new growth like a plant.
10 But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more.
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No man is like that. When he dies, he is buried in a grave. He takes his last breath. Then he is gone.
11 As the water of a lake dries up or a riverbed becomes parched and dry,
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Water disappears from lakes. Riverbeds become empty and dry.
12 so he lies down and does not rise; till the heavens are no more, people will not awake or be roused from their sleep.
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In the same way, a man lies down and never gets up. He won't wake up or rise from his sleep until the heavens are gone.
13 “If only you would hide me in the grave and conceal me till your anger has passed! If only you would set me a time and then remember me!
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"I wish you would hide me in a grave! I wish you would cover me up until your anger passes by! I wish you would set the time for me to spend in the grave and then bring me back up!
14 If someone dies, will they live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come.
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If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard work I will wait for the time when you give me new life.
15 You will call and I will answer you; you will long for the creature your hands have made.
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You will call out to me, and I will answer you. Your hands created me. So you will long for me.
16 Surely then you will count my steps but not keep track of my sin.
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Then you will count every step I take. But you won't keep track of my sin.
17 My offenses will be sealed up in a bag; you will cover over my sin.
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The wrong things I've done will be sealed up in a bag. You will wipe out my sins by forgiving them.
18 “But as a mountain erodes and crumbles and as a rock is moved from its place,
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"A mountain wears away and crumbles. A rock is moved from its place.
19 as water wears away stones and torrents wash away the soil, so you destroy a person’s hope.
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Water wears stones away. Storms wash soil away. In the same way, you destroy our hope.
20 You overpower them once for all, and they are gone; you change their countenance and send them away.
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You overpower us completely, and then we're gone. You change the way we look and send us to our graves.
21 If their children are honored, they do not know it; if their offspring are brought low, they do not see it.
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If our children are honored, we don't even know it. If they are dishonored, we don't even see it.
22 They feel but the pain of their own bodies and mourn only for themselves.”
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All we feel is the pain of our own bodies. We are full of sadness only for ourselves."
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.
Holy Bible, New International Reader's Version® Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.