Job 14
1 For a mortal born of a woman is short-lived, and full of [1]wrath.
2 Or he falleth like a flower that hath bloomed;
and he departeth like a shadow, and cannot continue.
3 Hast thou not taken account even of him,
and caused him to enter into judgment before thee?
4 For who shall be pure from uncleanness? not even one;
5 if even his life should be but one day upon the earth:
and his months are numbered by him:
thou hast appointed him for a time, and he shall by no means exceed it.
6 Depart from him, that he may be quiet,
and take pleasure in his life, though as a hireling.
7 For there is hope for a tree,
even if it should be cut down, that it shall blossom again,
and its branch shall not fail.
8 For though its root should grow old in the earth,
and its stem die in the rock;
9 it will blossom from the scent of water,
and will produce a crop, as one newly planted.
10 But a man that hath died is utterly gone;
and when a mortal hath fallen, he is no more.
11 For the sea wasteth in length of time,
and a river faileth and is dried up.
12 And man that hath lain down in death shall certainly not rise again
till the heaven [2]be dissolved,
and they shall not awake from their sleep.
13 For O that thou hadst kept me in the grave,
and hadst hidden me until thy wrath should cease,
and thou shouldst set me a time in which thou wouldst remember me!
14 For if a man should die, shall he live again,
having accomplished the days of his life?
I will wait till I [3]exist again?
15 Then shalt thou call, and I will hearken to thee:
but do not thou reject the work of thy hands.
16 But thou hast numbered my devices: and not one of my sins shall escape thee?
17 And thou hast sealed up my transgressions in a [4]bag,
and marked if I have been guilty of any transgression unawares.
18 And verily a mountain falling will utterly be destroyed,
and a rock shall be worn out of its place.
19 The waters wear the stones,
and waters falling headlong overflow a heap of the earth:
and thou destroyest the [5]hope of man.
20 Thou drivest him to an end, and he is gone:
thou settest thy face against him, and sendest him away;
21 and though his children be multiplied, he knoweth it not;
and if they be few, he is not aware.
22 But his flesh is in pain,
and his soul mourneth.