RSV Job 14 Chapter
14:1
'Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.
14:2
He comes forth like a flower, and withers;he flees like a shadow, and continues not.
14:3
And dost thou open thy eyes upon such a one and bring him into judgment with thee?
14:4
Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one.
14:5
Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with thee, and thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass,
14:6
look away from him, and desist, that he may enjoy, like a hireling, his day.
14:7
'For there is hope for a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease.
14:8
Though its root grow old in the earth, and its stump die in the ground,
14:9
yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth branches like a young plant.
14:10
But man dies, and is laid low;man breathes his last, and where is he?
14:11
As waters fail from a lake, and a river wastes away and dries up,
14:12
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.
14:13
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!
14:14
If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my service I would wait, till my release should come.
14:15
Thou wouldest call, and I would answer thee;thou wouldest long for the work of thy hands.
14:16
For then thou wouldest number my steps, thou wouldest not keep watch over my sin;
14:17
my transgression would be sealed up in a bag, and thou wouldest cover over my iniquity.
14:18
'But the mountain falls and crumbles away, and the rock is removed from its place;
14:19
the waters wear away the stones;the torrents wash away the soil of the earth;so thou destroyest the hope of man.
14:20
Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passes;thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away.
14:21
His sons come to honor, and he does not know it;they are brought low, and he perceives it not.
14:22
He feels only the pain of his own body, and he mourns only for himself.'