| English Standard Version | New Living Translation |
| 1“Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble. | 1“How frail is humanity! How short is life, how full of trouble! |
| 2He comes out like a flower and withers; he flees like a shadow and continues not. | 2We blossom like a flower and then wither. Like a passing shadow, we quickly disappear. |
| 3And do you open your eyes on such a one and bring me into judgment with you? | 3Must you keep an eye on such a frail creature and demand an accounting from me? |
| 4Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one. | 4Who can bring purity out of an impure person? No one! |
| 5Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass, | 5You have decided the length of our lives. You know how many months we will live, and we are not given a minute longer. |
| 6look away from him and leave him alone, that he may enjoy, like a hired hand, his day. | 6So leave us alone and let us rest! We are like hired hands, so let us finish our work in peace. |
| 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. | 7“Even a tree has more hope! If it is cut down, it will sprout again and grow new branches. |
| 8Though its root grow old in the earth, and its stump die in the soil, | 8Though its roots have grown old in the earth and its stump decays, |
| 9yet at the scent of water it will bud and put out branches like a young plant. | 9at the scent of water it will bud and sprout again like a new seedling. |
| 10But a man dies and is laid low; man breathes his last, and where is he? | 10“But when people die, their strength is gone. They breathe their last, and then where are they? |
| 11As waters fail from a lake and a river wastes away and dries up, | 11As water evaporates from a lake and a river disappears in drought, |
| 12so a man lies down and rises not again; till the heavens are no more he will not awake or be roused out of his sleep. | 12people are laid to rest and do not rise again. Until the heavens are no more, they will not wake up nor be roused from their sleep. |
| 13Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would conceal me until your wrath be past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me! | 13“I wish you would hide me in the grave and forget me there until your anger has passed. But mark your calendar to think of me again! |
| 14If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my service I would wait, till my renewal should come. | 14Can the dead live again? If so, this would give me hope through all my years of struggle, and I would eagerly await the release of death. |
| 15You would call, and I would answer you; you would long for the work of your hands. | 15You would call and I would answer, and you would yearn for me, your handiwork. |
| 16For then you would number my steps; you would not keep watch over my sin; | 16For then you would guard my steps, instead of watching for my sins. |
| 17my transgression would be sealed up in a bag, and you would cover over my iniquity. | 17My sins would be sealed in a pouch, and you would cover my guilt. |
| 18“But the mountain falls and crumbles away, and the rock is removed from its place; | 18“But instead, as mountains fall and crumble and as rocks fall from a cliff, |
| 19the waters wear away the stones; the torrents wash away the soil of the earth; so you destroy the hope of man. | 19as water wears away the stones and floods wash away the soil, so you destroy people’s hope. |
| 20You prevail forever against him, and he passes; you change his countenance, and send him away. | 20You always overpower them, and they pass from the scene. You disfigure them in death and send them away. |
| 21His sons come to honor, and he does not know it; they are brought low, and he perceives it not. | 21They never know if their children grow up in honor or sink to insignificance. |
| 22He feels only the pain of his own body, and he mourns only for himself.” | 22They suffer painfully; their life is full of trouble.” |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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