Job 14 — FBV

14Verse 1“Life⁺is short and full of trouble,^{Verse 2}like a flower that blooms and withers, like a passing shadow that soon disappears.^{Verse 3}Do you even notice me, God, and why do you have to drag me to court?^{Verse 4}Who can bring something clean of what is unclean? No one.^{Verse 5}You have determined how long we shall live—the number of months, a time limit on our lives.^{Verse 6}So leave us alone and give us some peace—so like a laborer we could enjoy a few hours of rest at the end of the day.^{Verse 7}Even a tree that's cut down has the hope of sprouting again, of sending up shoots and continuing to live.^{Verse 8}Even though its roots grow old in the earth, and its stump dies in the ground,^{Verse 9}just a trickle of water⁺will make it bud and grow branches like a young plant.^{Verse 10}But human beings die, their strength dwindles away; they perish, and where are they then?^{Verse 11}Like water evaporating from a lake and a river that dries up and disappears,^{Verse 12}so human beings lie down and don't get up again. Until the heavens cease to exist they will not awake from their sleep.^{Verse 13}I wish you would hide me in Sheol;⁺conceal me there until your anger is gone. Set a definite time for me there, and remember me!^{Verse 14}Will the dead live again? Then I would have hope through all my time of trouble until my release comes.^{Verse 15}You would call and I would answer you; you would long for me, the being that you made.^{Verse 16}Then you would look after me⁺and wouldn't be watching me to see if I sinned.^{Verse 17}My sins would be sealed up in a bag and you would cover my guilt.^{Verse 18}But just as the mountains crumble and fall, and the rocks tumble down;^{Verse 19}as water wears away the stones, as floods wash away the soil, so you destroy the hope people have.^{Verse 20}You continually overpower them and they pass away; you distort their faces in death and send them away.^{Verse 21}Their children may become important or fall from their positions, but they don't know or see any of this.^{Verse 22}As people die they only know their own pain and are sad for themselves.”