| New Living Translation | King James Bible |
| 1“How frail is humanity! How short is life, how full of trouble! | 1Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. |
| 2We blossom like a flower and then wither. Like a passing shadow, we quickly disappear. | 2He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. |
| 3Must you keep an eye on such a frail creature and demand an accounting from me? | 3And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee? |
| 4Who can bring purity out of an impure person? No one! | 4Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one. |
| 5You have decided the length of our lives. You know how many months we will live, and we are not given a minute longer. | 5Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass; |
| 6So leave us alone and let us rest! We are like hired hands, so let us finish our work in peace. | 6Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day. |
| 7“Even a tree has more hope! If it is cut down, it will sprout again and grow new branches. | 7For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. |
| 8Though its roots have grown old in the earth and its stump decays, | 8Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; |
| 9at the scent of water it will bud and sprout again like a new seedling. | 9Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant. |
| 10“But when people die, their strength is gone. They breathe their last, and then where are they? | 10But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? |
| 11As water evaporates from a lake and a river disappears in drought, | 11As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up: |
| 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. | 12So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. |
| 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! | 13O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me! |
| 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. | 14If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. |
| 15You would call and I would answer, and you would yearn for me, your handiwork. | 15Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands. |
| 16For then you would guard my steps, instead of watching for my sins. | 16For now thou numberest my steps: dost thou not watch over my sin? |
| 17My sins would be sealed in a pouch, and you would cover my guilt. | 17My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity. |
| 18“But instead, as mountains fall and crumble and as rocks fall from a cliff, | 18And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of his place. |
| 19as water wears away the stones and floods wash away the soil, so you destroy people’s hope. | 19The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man. |
| 20You always overpower them, and they pass from the scene. You disfigure them in death and send them away. | 20Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth: thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away. |
| 21They never know if their children grow up in honor or sink to insignificance. | 21His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them. |
| 22They suffer painfully; their life is full of trouble.” | 22But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn. |
| 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. | King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com. |
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