Job 14  International Standard Version

14 Human beings born by women
    are short-lived^[a] and full of trouble.
² He springs up^[b] like a flower and then withers.^[c]
    Like a shadow, he disappears^[d] and doesn’t last.
³ Indeed, have you opened your eyes on one like this—
    to bring me into a legal fight with you?
⁴ Who can produce a clean thing from an unclean thing?
    No one!
⁵ Since his days have been determined,
    the number of his months is known to you.
You’ve set his limit
    and he cannot exceed it.
⁶ Look away from him and leave him alone,
    so he can enjoy his time, like a hired worker.”

⁷ “There is hope for the tree, if it is cut down,
    that it will sprout again,
        and that its shoots won’t stop growing.
⁸ Even if its roots have grown ancient in the earth,
    and its stump begins to rot^[e] in the ground,
⁹ the presence^[f] of water will make it to bud
    so that it sprouts new branches like a young plant.

¹³ “Won’t you keep me safe in the afterlife?^[j]
    Conceal me until your anger subsides.
Set an appointment for me,
    then remember me.
¹⁴ If a human being^[k] dies, will he live again?
    I will endure the entire time of my assigned service,
        until I am changed.^[l]
15 You’ll call and I’ll answer you;
    you’ll long for your creatures that your hands have made.^[m]
16 Then you’ll certainly count every step I took,
    but you won’t keep an inventory of my sin.
¹⁷ My transgressions would be sealed up in a bag;
    you would cover over my sins.