Job 14
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
14 “A mortal, born of woman, few of days and full of trouble,(A)
2 comes up like a flower and withers,
flees like a shadow and does not last.(B)
3 Do you fix your eyes on such a one?
Do you bring me into judgment with you?(C)
4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
No one can.(D)
5 Since their days are determined,
and the number of their months is known to you,
and you have appointed the bounds that they cannot pass,(E)
6 look away from them and desist,[a]
that they may enjoy, like laborers, their days.(F)
7 “For there is hope for a tree,
if it is cut down, that it will sprout again
and that its shoots will not cease.
8 Though its root grows old in the earth
and its stump dies in the ground,
9 yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put forth branches like a young plant.(G)
10 But mortals die and are laid low;
humans expire, and where are they?(H)
11 As waters fail from a lake
and a river wastes away and dries up,(I)
12 so mortals lie down and do not rise again;
until the heavens are no more, they will not awake
or be roused out of their sleep.(J)
13 O that you would hide me in Sheol,
that you would conceal me until your wrath is past,
that you would appoint me a set time and remember me!(K)
14 If mortals die, will they live again?
All the days of my service I would wait
until my release should come.(L)
15 You would call, and I would answer you;
you would long for the work of your hands.
16 For then you would not[b] number my steps;
you would not keep watch over my sin;(M)
17 my transgression would be sealed up in a bag,
and you would cover over my iniquity.(N)
18 “But the mountain falls and crumbles away,
and the rock is removed from its place;(O)
19 the waters wear away the stones;
the torrents wash away the soil of the earth;
so you destroy the hope of mortals.
20 You prevail forever against them, and they pass away;
you change their countenance and send them away.(P)
21 Their children come to honor, and they do not know it;
they are brought low, and it goes unnoticed.(Q)
22 They feel only the pain of their own bodies
and mourn only for themselves.”
Job 14
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
14 Man born of a woman, living for a short time, is filled with many miseries.
2 Who cometh forth like a flower, and is destroyed, and fleeth as a shadow, and never continueth in the same state.
3 And dost thou think it meet to open thy eyes upon such an one, and to bring him into judgment with thee?
4 Who can make him clean that is conceived of unclean seed? is it not thou who only art?
5 The days of man are short, and the number of his months is with thee: thou hast appointed his bounds which cannot be passed.
6 Depart a little from him, that he may rest, until his wished for day come, as that of the hireling.
7 A tree hath hope: if it be cut, it groweth green again, and the boughs thereof sprout.
8 If its root be old in the earth, and its stock be dead in the dust:
9 At the scent of water, it shall spring, and bring forth leaves, as when it was first planted.
10 But man when he shall be dead, and stripped and consumed, I pray you where is he?
11 As if the waters should depart out of the sea, and an emptied river should be dried up:
12 So man when he is fallen asleep shall not rise again; till the heavens be broken, he shall not awake, nor rise up out of his sleep.
13 Who will grant me this, that thou mayst protect me in hell, and hide me till thy wrath pass, and appoint me a. time when thou wilt remember me?
14 Shall man that is dead, thinkest thou, live again? all the days in which I am now in warfare, I expect until my change come.
15 Thou shalt call me, and I will answer thee: to the work of thy hands thou shalt reach out thy right hand.
16 Thou indeed hast numbered my steps, but spare my sins.
17 Thou hast sealed up my offences as it were in a bag, but hast cured my iniquity.
18 A mountain falling cometh to nought, and a rock is removed out of its place.
19 Waters wear away the stones, and with inundation the ground by little and little is washed away: so in like manner thou shalt destroy man.
20 Thou hast strengthened him for a little while, that he may pass away for ever: thou shalt change his face, and shalt send him away.
21 Whether his children come to honour or dishonour, he shall not understand.
22 But yet his flesh, while he shall live, shall have pain, and his soul shall mourn over him.
Job 14
The Message
If We Die, Will We Live Again?
14 1-17 “We’re all adrift in the same boat:
too few days, too many troubles.
We spring up like wildflowers in the desert and then wilt,
transient as the shadow of a cloud.
Do you occupy your time with such fragile wisps?
Why even bother hauling me into court?
There’s nothing much to us to start with;
how do you expect us to amount to anything?
Mortals have a limited life span.
You’ve already decided how long we’ll live—
you set the boundary and no one can cross it.
So why not give us a break? Ease up!
Even ditchdiggers get occasional days off.
For a tree there is always hope.
Chop it down and it still has a chance—
its roots can put out fresh sprouts.
Even if its roots are old and gnarled,
its stump long dormant,
At the first whiff of water it comes to life,
buds and grows like a sapling.
But men and women? They die and stay dead.
They breathe their last, and that’s it.
Like lakes and rivers that have dried up,
parched reminders of what once was,
So mortals lie down and never get up,
never wake up again—never.
Why don’t you just bury me alive,
get me out of the way until your anger cools?
But don’t leave me there!
Set a date when you’ll see me again.
If we humans die, will we live again? That’s my question.
All through these difficult days I keep hoping,
waiting for the final change—for resurrection!
Homesick with longing for the creature you made,
you’ll call—and I’ll answer!
You’ll watch over every step I take,
but you won’t keep track of my missteps.
My sins will be stuffed in a sack
and thrown into the sea—sunk in deep ocean.
18-22 “Meanwhile, mountains wear down
and boulders break up,
Stones wear smooth
and soil erodes,
as you relentlessly grind down our hope.
You’re too much for us.
As always, you get the last word.
We don’t like it and our faces show it,
but you send us off anyway.
If our children do well for themselves, we never know it;
if they do badly, we’re spared the hurt.
Body and soul, that’s it for us—
a lifetime of pain, a lifetime of sorrow.”
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Public Domain (Why are modern Bible translations copyrighted?)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson