Job 14

1“Life1 is short and full of trouble, 2like a flower that blooms and withers, like a passing shadow that soon disappears. 3Do you even notice me, God, and why do you have to drag me to court? 4Who can bring something clean of what is unclean? No one. 5You have determined how long we shall live—the number of months, a time limit on our lives. 6So leave us alone and give us some peace—so like a laborer we could enjoy a few hours of rest at the end of the day.

7Even a tree that's cut down has the hope of sprouting again, of sending up shoots and continuing to live. 8Even though its roots grow old in the earth, and its stump dies in the ground, 9just a trickle of water2 will make it bud and grow branches like a young plant.

10But human beings die, their strength dwindles away; they perish, and where are they then? 11Like water evaporating from a lake and a river that dries up and disappears, 12so human beings lie down and don't get up again. Until the heavens cease to exist they will not awake from their sleep.

13I wish you would hide me in Sheol;3 conceal me there until your anger is gone. Set a definite time for me there, and remember me! 14Will the dead live again? Then I would have hope through all my time of trouble until my release comes. 15You would call and I would answer you; you would long for me, the being that you made. 16Then you would look after me4 and wouldn't be watching me to see if I sinned. 17My sins would be sealed up in a bag and you would cover my guilt.

18But just as the mountains crumble and fall, and the rocks tumble down; 19as water wears away the stones, as floods wash away the soil, so you destroy the hope people have. 20You continually overpower them and they pass away; you distort their faces in death and send them away. 21Their children may become important or fall from their positions, but they don't know or see any of this. 22As people die they only know their own pain and are sad for themselves.”