14 Man who is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble.

² He comes forth like a flower and withers; he flees also like a shadow and continues not.

³ And [Lord] do You open Your eyes upon such a one, and bring me into judgment with You?

⁴ Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one!^(A)

⁵ Since a man’s days are already determined, and the number of his months is wholly in Your control, and he cannot pass the bounds of his allotted time—

⁶ [O God] turn from him [and cease to watch him so pitilessly]; let him rest until he has accomplished as does a hireling the appointed time for his day.

⁷ For there is hope for a tree if it is cut down, that it will sprout again and that the tender shoots of it will not cease. [But there is no such hope for man.]

⁸ Though its roots grow old in the earth and its stock dies in the ground,

⁹ Yet through the scent [and breathing] of water [the stump of the tree] will bud and bring forth boughs like a young plant.

¹⁰ But [the brave, strong] man must die and lie prostrate; yes, man breathes his last, and where is he?

¹¹ As waters evaporate from the lake, and the river drains and dries up,

¹² So man lies down and does not rise [to his former state]. Till the heavens are no more, men will not awake nor be raised [physically] out of their sleep.

¹³ Oh, that You would hide me in Sheol (the unseen state), that You would conceal me until Your wrath is past, that You would set a definite time and then remember me earnestly [and imprint me on your heart]!

¹⁴ If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my warfare and service I will wait, till my change and release shall come.^(B)

¹⁵ [Then] You would call and I would answer You; You would yearn for [me] the work of Your hands.

¹⁶ But now You number each of my steps and take note of my every sin.

¹⁷ My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and You glue up my iniquity [to preserve it in full for the day of reckoning].

¹⁸ But as a mountain, if it falls, crumbles to nothing, and as the rock is removed out of its place,

¹⁹ As waters wear away the stones and as floods wash away the soil of the earth, so You [O Lord] destroy the hope of man.

²⁰ You prevail forever against him, and he passes on; You change his appearance [in death] and send him away [from the presence of the living].

²¹ His sons come to honor, and he knows it not; they are brought low, and he perceives it not.

²² But his body [lamenting its decay in the grave] shall grieve over him, and his soul shall mourn [over the body of clay which it once enlivened].