Job 14:1-22
14 “Man,* born of woman,+Is short-lived+ and glutted with agitation.+
2 Like a blossom he has come forth and is cut off,+And he runs away like the shadow+ and does not keep existing.*
3 Yes, upon this one you have opened your eye,And me* you bring into judgment+ with you.
4 Who can produce someone clean out of someone unclean?+There is not one.*
5 If his days are decided,+The number of his months is with you;A decree for him you have made that he may not go beyond.
6 Turn your gaze from upon him that he may have rest,*+Until he finds pleasure as a hired laborer does in his day.
7 For there exists hope for even a tree.If it gets cut down, it will even sprout again,*+And its own twig will not cease to be.
8 If its root grows old in the earthAnd in the dust its stump dies,
9 At the scent of water it will sprout+And it will certainly produce a bough like a new plant.+
10 But an able-bodied man* dies and lies vanquished;And an earthling man* expires, and where is he?*+
11 Waters do disappear from a sea,And a river itself drains off and dries up.+
12 Man* also has to lie down and does not get up.+Until heaven is no more they will not wake up,+Nor will they be aroused from their sleep.*+
13 O that in Sheʹol* you would conceal me,+That you would keep me secret until your anger turns back,That you would set a time limit+ for me and remember me!+
14 If an able-bodied man* dies can he live again?+All the days of my compulsory service I shall wait,+Until my relief comes.+
15 You will call, and I myself shall answer you.+For the work of your hands you will have a yearning.
16 For now you keep counting my very steps;+You watch for nothing but my sin.+
17 Sealed up in a bag is my revolt,+And you apply glue over my error.
18 However, a mountain itself, falling, will fade away,And even a rock will be moved away from its place.
19 Water certainly rubs away even stones;Its outpouring washes off earth’s dust.So you have destroyed the very hope of mortal man.*
20 You overpower him forever so that he goes away;+You are disfiguring his face so that you send him away.
21 His sons get honored, but he does not know [it];+And they become insignificant, but he does not consider them.
22 Only his own flesh while upon him will keep aching,And his own soul while within him will keep mourning.”*
Footnotes
^ Or, “Earthling man.” Heb., ʼa·dhamʹ.
^ “Me,” M; LXXSyVg, “him.”
^ Or, “No one can.”
^ Or, “may cease,” as in vs 7.
^ Lit., “yet change.”
^ “But an able-bodied man.” Heb., wegheʹver.
^ “An earthling man.” Heb., ʼa·dhamʹ.
^ “Where is he?” MVg; LXXSy, “he is no more.”
^ Lit., “And man.” Heb., weʼishʹ.
^ “He will not wake up, nor will he rouse himself from his sleep,” Vg and by a slight correction of M.
^ “In Sheol.” Heb., bish·ʼohlʹ; Gr., haiʹdei; Syr., ba·shiul; Lat., in·ferʹno; that is, the common grave of mankind. See App 4B.
^ “An able-bodied man.” Heb., geʹver.
^ “Mortal man.” Heb., ʼenohshʹ.
