Job 14

¹Man, that is born of a woman,

Is of few days, and full of trouble.

²He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down:

He fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.

³And dost thou open thine eyes upon such a one,

And bringest me into judgment with thee?

⁴Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.

⁵Seeing his days are determined,

The number of his months is with thee,

And thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;

⁶Look away from him, that he may rest,

Till he shall accomplish, as a hireling, his day.

⁷For there is hope of a tree,

If it be cut down, that it will sprout again,

And that the tender branch thereof will not cease.

⁸Though the root thereof wax old in the earth,

And the stock thereof die in the ground;

⁹Yet through the scent of water it will bud,

And put forth boughs like a plant.

¹⁰But man dieth, and is laid low:

Yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?

¹¹As the waters fail from the sea,

And the river wasteth and drieth up;

¹²So man lieth down and riseth not:

Till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake,

Nor be roused out of their sleep.

¹³Oh that thou wouldest hide me in Sheol,

That thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past,

That thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!

¹⁴If a man die, shall he live again?

All the days of my warfare would I wait,

Till my release should come.

¹⁵Thou wouldest call, and I would answer thee:

Thou wouldest have a desire to the work of thy hands.

¹⁶But now thou numberest my steps:

Dost thou not watch over my sin?

¹⁷My transgression is sealed up in a bag,

And thou fastenest up mine iniquity.

¹⁸But the mountain falling cometh to nought;

And the rock is removed out of its place;

¹⁹The waters wear the stones;

The overflowings thereof wash away the dust of the earth:

So thou destroyest the hope of man.

²⁰Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth;

Thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away.

²¹His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not;

And they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.

²²But his flesh upon him hath pain,

And his soul within him mourneth.