14:1 MAN WHO is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble. |
14:2 He comes forth like a flower and withers; he flees also like a shadow and continues not. |
14:3 And [Lord] do You open Your eyes upon such a one, and bring me into judgment with You? |
14:4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one! |
14:5 Since a man's days are already determined, and the number of his months is wholly in Your control, and he cannot pass the bounds of his allotted time-- |
14:6 [O God] turn from him [and cease to watch him so pitilessly]; let him rest until he has accomplished as does a hireling the appointed time for his day. |
14:7 For there is hope for a tree if it is cut down, that it will sprout again and that the tender shoots of it will not cease. [But there is no such hope for man.] |
14:8 Though its roots grow old in the earth and its stock dies in the ground, |
14:9 Yet through the scent [and breathing] of water [the stump of the tree] will bud and bring forth boughs like a young plant. |
14:10 But [the brave, strong] man must die and lie prostrate; yes, man breathes his last, and where is he? |
14:11 As waters evaporate from the lake, and the river drains and dries up, |
14:12 So man lies down and does not rise [to his former state]. Till the heavens are no more, men will not awake nor be raised [physically] out of their sleep. |
14:13 Oh, that You would hide me in Sheol (the unseen state), that You would conceal me until Your wrath is past, that You would set a definite time and then remember me earnestly [and imprint me on your heart]! |
14:14 If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my warfare {and} service I will wait, till my change {and} release shall come. |
14:15 [Then] You would call and I would answer You; You would yearn for [me] the work of Your hands. |
14:16 But now You number each of my steps and take note of my every sin. |
14:17 My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and You glue up my iniquity [to preserve it in full for the day of reckoning]. |
14:18 But as a mountain, if it falls, crumbles to nothing, and as the rock is removed out of its place, |
14:19 As waters wear away the stones and as floods wash away the soil of the earth, so You [O Lord] destroy the hope of man. |
14:20 You prevail forever against him, and he passes on; You change his appearance [in death] and send him away [from the presence of the living]. |
14:21 His sons come to honor, and he knows it not; they are brought low, and he perceives it not. |
14:22 But his body [lamenting its decay in the grave] shall grieve over him, and his soul shall mourn [over the body of clay which it once enlivened]. |