1 "A person who is born of a woman is short-lived and is full of trouble. 2 He comes up like a flower; then he withers. He is like a fleeting shadow; he doesn't stay long. 3 You observe this and call me to account to you. 4 "If only an unclean person could become clean! It's not possible. 5 If the number of his days and the number of his months are determined by you, and you set his limit, then he cannot go past it. 6 Look away from him, and he will cease to be. Meanwhile, he loves life as a laborer loves work. 7 There is hope for a tree when it is cut down. It will sprout again. Its shoots will not stop sprouting. 8 If its roots grow old in the ground and its stump dies in the soil, 9 merely a scent of water will make it sprout and grow branches like a plant. 10 But a human dies and is powerless. A person breathes his last breath, and where is he? 11 As water drains out of a lake, or as a river dries up completely, 12 so each person lies down and does not rise until the heavens cease to exist. He does not wake up. He is not awakened from his sleep. 13 I wish you would hide me in Sheol and keep me hidden there until your anger cools. Set a specific time for me when you will remember me. 14 "If a person dies, will he go on living? I will wait for my relief to come as long as my hard labor continues. 15 You will call, and I will answer you. You will long for the person your hands have made. 16 Though now you count my steps, you will not keep a record of my sins. 17 My disobedience will be closed up in a bag, and you will cover over my sins. 18 As surely as a mountain falls and rocks are dislodged, 19 so water wears away stone, floods wash away soil from the land, and you destroy a mortal's hope. 20 You overpower him forever, and he passes away. You change his appearance and send him away. 21 His sons are honored, and he doesn't know it. Or they become unimportant, and he doesn't realize it. 22 He feels only his body's pain. He is only worried about himself." You Are Speaking Sinfully, Job GOD'S WORD® is a copyrighted work of God's Word to the Nations. Quotations are used by permission. Copyright 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. All rights reserved. | |