1 "Man born of woman 1 is of few days and full of trouble.
2 He springs up like a flower and withers away; 2 like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
3 Do you fix your eye on such a one? 3 Will you bring him[a] before you for judgment?
4 Who can bring what is pure from the impure? 4 No one!
5 Man's days are determined; 5 you have decreed the number of his months 5 and have set limits he cannot exceed.
6 So look away from him and let him alone, 6 till he has put in his time like a hired man.
7 "At least there is hope for a tree: 7 If it is cut down, it will sprout again, 7 and its new shoots will not fail.
8 Its roots may grow old in the ground 8 and its stump die in the soil,
9 yet at the scent of water it will bud 9 and put forth shoots like a plant.
10 But man dies and is laid low; 10 he breathes his last and is no more.
11 As water disappears from the sea 11 or a riverbed becomes parched and dry,
12 so man lies down and does not rise; 12 till the heavens are no more, men will not awake 12 or be roused from their sleep.
13 "If only you would hide me in the grave[b] 13 and conceal me till your anger has passed! 13 If only you would set me a time 13 and then remember me!
14 If a man dies, will he live again? 14 All the days of my hard service 14 I will wait for my renewal[c] to come.
