GodsWord - Job - 14

14:1  "A person who is born of a woman is short-lived and is full of trouble.

14:2  He comes up like a flower; then he withers. He is like a fleeting shadow; he doesn't stay long.

14:3  You observe this and call me to account to you.

14:4  "If only an unclean person could become clean! It's not possible.

14:5  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.

14:6  Look away from him, and he will cease to be. Meanwhile, he loves life as a laborer loves work.

14:7  There is hope for a tree when it is cut down. It will sprout again. Its shoots will not stop sprouting.

14:8  If its roots grow old in the ground and its stump dies in the soil,

14:9  merely a scent of water will make it sprout and grow branches like a plant.

14:10  But a human dies and is powerless. A person breathes his last breath, and where is he?

14:11  As water drains out of a lake, or as a river dries up completely,

14:12  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.

14:13  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.

14:14  "If a person dies, will he go on living? I will wait for my relief to come as long as my hard labor continues.

14:15  You will call, and I will answer you. You will long for the person your hands have made.

14:16  Though now you count my steps, you will not keep a record of my sins.

14:17  My disobedience will be closed up in a bag, and you will cover over my sins.

14:18  As surely as a mountain falls and rocks are dislodged,

14:19  so water wears away stone, floods wash away soil from the land, and you destroy a mortal's hope.

14:20  You overpower him forever, and he passes away. You change his appearance and send him away.

14:21  His sons are honored, and he doesn't know it. Or they become unimportant, and he doesn't realize it.

14:22  He feels only his body's pain. He is only worried about himself."