Job 14

Job Laments the Finality of Death

¹“Man, who is born of woman,

is short of days and full of trouble.1

²Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away;

like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.1

³Do You open Your eyes to one like this?

Will You bring him into judgment before You?1

⁴Who can bring out clean from unclean?

No one!2

⁵Since his days are determined

and the number of his months is with You,

and since You have set limits

that he cannot exceed,1

⁶look away from him and let him rest,

so he can enjoy his day as a hired hand.

⁷For there is hope for a tree:

If it is cut down, it will sprout again,

and its tender shoots will not fail.

⁸If its roots grow old in the ground

and its stump dies in the soil,

⁹at the scent of water it will bud

and put forth twigs like a sapling.

¹⁰But a man dies and is laid low;

he breathes his last, and where is he?

¹¹As water disappears from the sea

and a river becomes parched and dry,

¹²so a man lies down

and does not rise.

Until the heavens are no more,

he will not be awakened or roused from sleep.

¹³If only You would hide me in Sheol

and conceal me until Your anger has passed!

If only You would appoint a time for me

and then remember me!1

¹⁴When a man dies, will he live again?

All the days of my hard service I will wait,

until my renewal comes.

¹⁵You will call, and I will answer;

You will desire the work of Your hands.

¹⁶For then You would count my steps,

but would not keep track of my sin.1

¹⁷My transgression would be sealed in a bag,

and You would cover over my iniquity.1

¹⁸But as a mountain erodes and crumbles

and a rock is dislodged from its place,

¹⁹as water wears away the stones

and torrents wash away the soil,

so You destroy a man’s hope.

²⁰You forever overpower him, and he passes on;

You change his countenance and send him away.

²¹If his sons receive honor, he does not know it;

if they are brought low, he is unaware.

²²He feels only the pain of his own body

and mourns only for himself.”