Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible RHE
New Living Translation NLT
1 Man born of a woman, living for a short time, is filled with many miseries.
1
“How frail is humanity! How short is life, how full of trouble!
2 Who cometh forth like a flower, and is destroyed, and fleeth as a shadow, and never continueth in the same state.
2
We blossom like a flower and then wither. Like a passing shadow, we quickly disappear.
3 And dost thou think it meet to open thy eyes upon such an one, and to bring him into judgment with thee?
3
Must you keep an eye on such a frail creature and demand an accounting from me?
4 Who can make him clean that is conceived of unclean seed? is it not thou who only art?
4
Who can bring purity out of an impure person? No one!
5 The days of man are short, and the number of his months is with thee: thou hast appointed his bounds which cannot be passed.
5
You have decided the length of our lives. You know how many months we will live, and we are not given a minute longer.
6 Depart a little from him, that he may rest until his wished for day come, as that of the hireling.
6
So leave us alone and let us rest! We are like hired hands, so let us finish our work in peace.
7 A tree hath hope: if it be cut, it growth green again, and the boughs thereof sprout.
7
“Even a tree has more hope! If it is cut down, it will sprout again and grow new branches.
8 If its roots be old in the earth, and its stock be dead in the dust:
8
Though its roots have grown old in the earth and its stump decays,
9 At the scent of water, it shall spring, and bring forth leaves, as when it was first planted.
9
at the scent of water it will bud and sprout again like a new seedling.
10 But man when he shall be dead, and stripped and consumed, I pray you where is he?
10
“But when people die, their strength is gone. They breathe their last, and then where are they?
11 As if the waters should depart out of the sea, and an emptied river should be dried up;
11
As water evaporates from a lake and a river disappears in drought,
12 So man when he is fallen asleep shall not rise again; till the heavens be broken, he shall not awake, nor rise up out of his sleep.
12
people are laid to rest and do not rise again. Until the heavens are no more, they will not wake up nor be roused from their sleep.
13 Who will grant me this, that thou mayst protect me in hell, and hide me till thy wrath pass, and appoint me a time when thou wilt remember me?
13
“I wish you would hide me in the grave and forget me there until your anger has passed. But mark your calendar to think of me again!
14 Shall man that is dead, thinkest thou, live again? all the days in which I am now in warfare, I expect until my change come.
14
Can the dead live again? If so, this would give me hope through all my years of struggle, and I would eagerly await the release of death.
15 Thou shalt call me, and I will answer thee: to the work of thy hands thou shalt reach out thy right hand.
15
You would call and I would answer, and you would yearn for me, your handiwork.
16 Thou indeed hast numbered my steps, but spare my sins.
16
For then you would guard my steps, instead of watching for my sins.
17 Thou hast sealed up my offences as it were in a bag, but hast cured my iniquity.
17
My sins would be sealed in a pouch, and you would cover my guilt.
18 A mountain falling cometh to nought, and a rock is removed out of its place.
18
“But instead, as mountains fall and crumble and as rocks fall from a cliff,
19 Waters wear away the stones, and with inundation the ground by little and little is washed away: so in like manner thou shalt destroy man.
19
as water wears away the stones and floods wash away the soil, so you destroy people’s hope.
20 Thou hast strengthened him for a little while, that he may pass away for ever: thou shalt change his face, and shalt send him away.
20
You always overpower them, and they pass from the scene. You disfigure them in death and send them away.
21 Whether his children come to honour or dishonour, he shall not understand.
21
They never know if their children grow up in honor or sink to insignificance.
22 But yet his flesh, while he shall live, shall have pain, and his soul shall mourn over him.
22
They suffer painfully; their life is full of trouble.”