| International Standard Version | New International Version |
| 1Human beings born by women are short-lived and full of trouble. | 1"Mortals, born of woman, are of few days and full of trouble. |
| 2He springs up like a flower and then withers. Like a shadow, he disappears and doesn't last. | 2They spring up like flowers and wither away; like fleeting shadows, they do not endure. |
| 3Indeed, have you opened your eyes on one like this— to bring me into a legal fight with you? | 3Do you fix your eye on them? Will you bring them before you for judgment? |
| 4Who can produce a clean thing from an unclean thing? No one! | 4Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one! |
| 5Since his days have been determined, the number of his months is known to you. You've set his limit and he cannot exceed it. | 5A person's days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed. |
| 6Look away from him and leave him alone, so he can enjoy his time, like a hired worker." | 6So look away from him and let him alone, till he has put in his time like a hired laborer. |
| 7"There is hope for the tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots won't stop growing. | 7"At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail. |
| 8Even if its roots have grown ancient in the earth, and its stump begins to rot in the ground, | 8Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil, |
| 9the presence of water will make it to bud so that it sprouts new branches like a young plant. | 9yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant. |
| 10"But when a person dies and wastes away, when a person breathes his last, where will he be? | 10But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more. |
| 11As water disappears from the sea, or water evaporates from a river, | 11As the water of a lake dries up or a riverbed becomes parched and dry, |
| 12so also a person lies down and does not get up; they won't awaken until the heavens are no more, nor will they arise from their sleep." | 12so he lies down and does not rise; till the heavens are no more, people will not awake or be roused from their sleep. |
| 13"Won't you keep me safe in the afterlife? Conceal me until your anger subsides. Set an appointment for me, then remember me. | 13"If only you would hide me in the grave and conceal me till your anger has passed! If only you would set me a time and then remember me! |
| 14If a human being dies, will he live again? I will endure the entire time of my assigned service, until I am changed. | 14If someone dies, will they live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come. |
| 15You'll call and I'll answer you; you'll long for your creatures that your hands have made. | 15You will call and I will answer you; you will long for the creature your hands have made. |
| 16Then you'll certainly count every step I took, but you won't keep an inventory of my sin. | 16Surely then you will count my steps but not keep track of my sin. |
| 17My transgressions would be sealed up in a bag; you would cover over my sins. | 17My offenses will be sealed up in a bag; you will cover over my sin. |
| 18"Mountains fall and crumble; rocks are dislodged from their places. | 18"But as a mountain erodes and crumbles and as a rock is moved from its place, |
| 19Water wears away stones; floods wash away topsoil from the land— but you destroy the hope of human beings just like that! | 19as water wears away stones and torrents wash away the soil, so you destroy a person's hope. |
| 20You overpower him once and for all, and then he departs; you change his appearance and then send him away. | 20You overpower them once for all, and they are gone; you change their countenance and send them away. |
| 21"If his children are honored, he doesn't know it; if they become insignificant, he never perceives it. | 21If their children are honored, they do not know it; if their offspring are brought low, they do not see it. |
| 22He feels only his own pain, and grieves only for himself." | 22They feel but the pain of their own bodies and mourn only for themselves." |
The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. | New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. |
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