Job 14
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 14
Everyone Born of Woman . . .[a]
1 “Everyone born of woman
has life that is short and filled with troubles.
2 He blossoms like a flower and soon begins to wither;
as fleeting as a shadow, he does not endure.
3 Is it upon a creature like this that you fix your gaze
and bring him before you to be judged?
4 “Can a man be found who has avoided defilement?
There is no such person.
5 The extent of his life has already been determined,
and the number of his months is known to you;
you have established the limits that he cannot pass.
6 Turn your gaze away from him and leave him alone
so that, like a hired laborer, he may complete his days.
7 “At least for a tree there is always hope:
if it is cut down, it may sprout once again,
and its new shoots may burst with life.
8 Although its roots age in the earth
and its stump dies in the ground,
9 once it scents water it will begin to bud
and put forth branches like a sapling.
10 “But when a man dies, he remains lifeless;
what is his fate once he expires?
11 As occurs when the waters of a lake recede
or a river ceases to flow and runs dry,
12 so men lie down and never rise again;
until the heavens cease to exist, they will not awaken
or be stirred out of their slumber.
Hide Me in the Netherworld[b]
13 “How I wish you would hide me in the netherworld
and shelter me until your wrath has subsided
while designating a time to call me to mind.
14 If one who dies were permitted to live once again,
I would willingly endure all the days of my service
waiting for my relief to arrive.
15 You would call and I would answer you;
you would long to see once again the creature you have made.
16 You would count my every step
but not watch for any evidence of sin in me.
17 You would store up all my transgressions in a bag,
and you would cover over my guilt.
18 “But as a mountain eventually falls
and a rock is removed from its place,
19 as the waters wear away the stones
and cloudbursts wash away the soil,
so you destroy the hope of man.
20 You crush him once for all and he disappears;
you alter his appearance and send him away.
21 If his sons are honored, he is unaware of it;
if they are disgraced, he does not know it.
22 He is cognizant only of the pains his flesh endures,
and he grieves for no one except himself.”
Footnotes
- Job 14:1 Thoroughly unclean, humans cannot attain true purity, i.e., moral perfection. This wretchedness is precisely their excuse before God. And if the universe can be shaken and then renewed, for humans there is no revival; they remain buried in death forever. Survival in the subterranean netherworld is nothing more than a diminished existence. Human beings thus hasten toward their end without hope. What reason is there for God to pursue them?
- Job 14:13 An astounding proposition is put forth: Job desires to descend to the netherworld as in a provisional hiding place or refuge (Ps 139:7-12; Isa 26:20) to escape the divine wrath and wait there for the Lord to remember the creature [he has] made and grant him forgiveness. Job dreams of immortality and suffers because he no longer enjoys the friendship of his God.
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.”
约伯记 14
Chinese Union Version Modern Punctuation (Simplified)
历言人生逝世甚速
14 “人为妇人所生，日子短少，多有患难。 2 出来如花，又被割下，飞去如影，不能存留。 3 这样的人，你岂睁眼看他吗？又叫我来受审吗？ 4 谁能使洁净之物出于污秽之中呢？无论谁也不能。 5 人的日子既然限定，他的月数在你那里，你也派定他的界限，使他不能越过， 6 便求你转眼不看他，使他得歇息，直等他像雇工人完毕他的日子。
7 “树若被砍下，还可指望发芽，嫩枝生长不息。 8 其根虽然衰老在地里，干也死在土中， 9 及至得了水气，还要发芽，又长枝条，像新栽的树一样。 10 但人死亡而消灭，他气绝，竟在何处呢？ 11 海中的水绝尽，江河消散干涸。 12 人也是如此，躺下不再起来，等到天没有了，仍不得复醒，也不得从睡中唤醒。
13 “唯愿你把我藏在阴间，存于隐密处，等你的愤怒过去。愿你为我定了日期，记念我。 14 人若死了，岂能再活呢？我只要在我一切争战的日子，等我被释放[a]的时候来到。 15 你呼叫，我便回答；你手所做的，你必羡慕。 16 但如今你数点我的脚步，岂不窥察我的罪过吗？ 17 我的过犯被你封在囊中，也缝严了我的罪孽。
18 “山崩变为无有，磐石挪开原处； 19 水流消磨石头，所流溢的洗去地上的尘土。你也照样灭绝人的指望。 20 你攻击人常常得胜，使他去世；你改变他的容貌，叫他往而不回。 21 他儿子得尊荣，他也不知道；降为卑，他也不觉得。 22 但知身上疼痛，心中悲哀。”
Footnotes
- 约伯记 14:14 “被释放”或作“改变”。
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
Copyright © 2011 by Global Bible Initiative