[1] "A person who is born of a woman is short-lived and is full of trouble. [2] He comes up like a flower; then he withers. He is like a fleeting shadow; he doesn't stay long. [3] You observe this and call me to account to you. [4] "If only an unclean person could become clean! It's not possible. [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. [6] Look away from him, and he will cease to be. Meanwhile, he loves life as a laborer loves work. [7] There is hope for a tree when it is cut down. It will sprout again. Its shoots will not stop sprouting. [8] If its roots grow old in the ground and its stump dies in the soil, [9] merely a scent of water will make it sprout and grow branches like a plant. [10] But a human dies and is powerless. A person breathes his last breath, and where is he? [11] As water drains out of a lake, or as a river dries up completely, [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. [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] "If a person dies, will he go on living? I will wait for my relief to come as long as my hard labor continues. [15] You will call, and I will answer you. You will long for the person your hands have made. [16] Though now you count my steps, you will not keep a record of my sins. [17] My disobedience will be closed up in a bag, and you will cover over my sins. [18] As surely as a mountain falls and rocks are dislodged, [19] so water wears away stone, floods wash away soil from the land, and you destroy a mortal's hope. [20] You overpower him forever, and he passes away. You change his appearance and send him away. [21] His sons are honored, and he doesn't know it. Or they become unimportant, and he doesn't realize it. [22] He feels only his body's pain. He is only worried about himself."
