¹All of us are born of women,[#14.1 Heb adam]

have few days, and are full of turmoil.

²Like a flower, we bloom, then wither,[#14.2 Or he; also he in 14:5-6]

flee like a shadow, and don’t last.

(

³Yes, you open your eyes on this one;

you bring me into trial against you.)

⁴Who can make pure from impure?

Nobody.

⁵If our days are fixed, the number of our months with you,

you set a statute and we can’t exceed it.

⁶Look away from us that we may rest,

until we are satisfied like a worker at day’s end.

Trees versus humans

⁷Indeed there is hope for a tree.

If it’s cut down and still sprouting

and its shoots don’t fail,

⁸if its roots age in the ground

⁹at the scent of water, it will bud

¹⁰But a human dies and lies there;

a person expires, and where is he?

¹¹Water vanishes from the sea;

a river dries up completely.

¹²But a human lies down and doesn’t rise

they don’t get up and awaken from sleep.

Momentary hope

¹³I wish you would hide me in the underworld,[#14.13 Heb Sheol]

conceal me until your anger passes,

set a time for me, and remember me.

¹⁴If people die, will they live again?

All the days of my service I would wait

¹⁵You would call, and I would answer you;

you would long for your handiwork.

¹⁶Though you now number my steps,

you would not keep a record of my sin.

¹⁷My rebellion is sealed in a bag;

you would cover my sin.

God crushes hope

¹⁸But an eroding mountain breaks up,

and rock is displaced.

¹⁹Water wears away boulders;

floods carry away soil;

you destroy a people’s hope.

²⁰You overpower them relentlessly, and they die;

you change their appearance and send them away.

²¹Their children achieve honor, and they don’t know it;

their children become insignificant, and they don’t see it.

²²They only feel the pain of their body,

and they mourn for themselves.