Job 14

Job Muses on the Brevity of Life

14¹ "Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. ² He comes forth like a flower, and withers; he flees like a shadow, and continues not. ³ And dost thou open thy eyes upon such a one and bring him into judgment with thee? ⁴ Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one. ⁵ Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with thee, and thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass, ⁶ look away from him, and desist, that he may enjoy, like a hireling, his day.

⁷ "For there is hope for a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease. ⁸ Though its root grow old in the earth, and its stump die in the ground, ⁹ yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth branches like a young plant. ¹⁰ But man dies, and is laid low; man breathes his last, and where is he? ¹¹ As waters fail from a lake, and a river wastes away and dries up, ¹² so man lies down and rises not again; till the heavens are no more he will not awake, or be roused out of his sleep. ¹³ Oh that thou wouldest hide me in Sheol, that thou wouldest conceal me until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me! ¹⁴ If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my service I would wait, till my release should come. ¹⁵ Thou wouldest call, and I would answer thee; thou wouldest long for the work of thy hands.

¹⁶ For then thou wouldest number my steps, thou wouldest not keep watch over my sin; ¹⁷ my transgression would be sealed up in a bag, and thou wouldest cover over my iniquity. ¹⁸ "But the mountain falls and crumbles away, and the rock is removed from its place; ¹⁹ the waters wear away the stones; the torrents wash away the soil of the earth; so thou destroyest the hope of man. ²⁰ Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passes; thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away. ²¹ His sons come to honor, and he does not know it; they are brought low, and he perceives it not. ²² He feels only the pain of his own body, and he mourns only for himself."