Job 14:1-10

1 “How frail is humanity! How short is life, how full of trouble!
2 We blossom like a flower and then wither. Like a passing shadow, we quickly disappear.
3 Must you keep an eye on such a frail creature and demand an accounting from me?
4 Who can bring purity out of an impure person? No one!
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 So leave us alone and let us rest! We are like hired hands, so let us finish our work in peace.
7 “Even a tree has more hope! If it is cut down, it will sprout again and grow new branches.
8 Though its roots have grown old in the earth and its stump decays,
9 at the scent of water it will bud and sprout again like a new seedling.
10 “But when people die, their strength is gone. They breathe their last, and then where are they?
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.