New International Version NIV
New Revised Standard NRS
1 “Mortals, born of woman, are of few days and full of trouble.
1
"A mortal, born of woman, few of days and full of trouble,
2 They spring up like flowers and wither away; like fleeting shadows, they do not endure.
2
comes up like a flower and withers, flees like a shadow and does not last.
3 Do you fix your eye on them? Will you bring them before you for judgment?
3
Do you fix your eyes on such a one? Do you bring me into judgment with you?
4 Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one!
4
Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one can.
5 A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.
5
Since their days are determined, and the number of their months is known to you, and you have appointed the bounds that they cannot pass,
6 So look away from him and let him alone, till he has put in his time like a hired laborer.
6
look away from them, and desist, that they may enjoy, like laborers, their days.
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.
7
"For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease.
8 Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil,
8
Though its root grows old in the earth, and its stump dies in the ground,
9 yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant.
9
yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth branches like a young plant.
10 But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more.
10
But mortals die, and are laid low; humans expire, and where are they?
11 As the water of a lake dries up or a riverbed becomes parched and dry,
11
As waters fail from a lake, and a river wastes away and dries up,
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.
12
so mortals lie down and do not rise again; until the heavens are no more, they will not awake or be roused out of their sleep.
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!
13
O that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would conceal me until your wrath is past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14 If someone dies, will they live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come.
14
If mortals die, will they live again? All the days of my service I would wait until my release should come.
15 You will call and I will answer you; you will long for the creature your hands have made.
15
You would call, and I would answer you; you would long for the work of your hands.
16 Surely then you will count my steps but not keep track of my sin.
16
For then you would not number my steps, you would not keep watch over my sin;
17 My offenses will be sealed up in a bag; you will cover over my sin.
17
my transgression would be sealed up in a bag, and you would cover over my iniquity.
18 “But as a mountain erodes and crumbles and as a rock is moved from its place,
18
"But the mountain falls and crumbles away, and the rock is removed from its place;
19 as water wears away stones and torrents wash away the soil, so you destroy a person’s hope.
19
the waters wear away the stones; the torrents wash away the soil of the earth; so you destroy the hope of mortals.
20 You overpower them once for all, and they are gone; you change their countenance and send them away.
20
You prevail forever against them, and they pass away; you change their countenance, and send them away.
21 If their children are honored, they do not know it; if their offspring are brought low, they do not see it.
21
Their children come to honor, and they do not know it; they are brought low, and it goes unnoticed.
22 They feel but the pain of their own bodies and mourn only for themselves.”
22
They feel only the pain of their own bodies, and mourn only for themselves."
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.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.