Job 14
Legacy Standard Bible
If a Man Dies, Will He Live Again?
14 “(A)Man, who is born of woman,
Is [a]short-lived and (B)full of turmoil.
2 (C)Like a flower he comes forth and withers.
He also flees like (D)a shadow and does not stand.
3 You also (E)open Your eyes on him
And (F)bring [b]me into judgment with Yourself.
4 (G)Who can make the clean out of the unclean?
No one!
5 Since his days are determined,
The (H)number of his months is with You;
And his limits You have [c]set so that he cannot pass.
6 (I)Turn Your gaze from him that he may cease from toil,
Until he accepts his day like a hired man.
7 “For there is hope for a tree,
When it is cut down, that it will change back sprouting again,
And its shoots will not cease.
8 Though its roots grow old in the ground
And its stump dies in the dry soil,
9 At the scent of water it will flourish
And put forth sprigs like a plant.
10 But (J)man dies and lies prostrate.
Man (K)breathes his last, and where is he?
11 As (L)water [d]evaporates from the sea,
And a river becomes parched and dried up,
12 So (M)man lies down and does not rise.
Until the heavens are no longer,
[e]He will not awake nor be aroused out of [f]his sleep.
13 “Oh that You would conceal me in Sheol,
That You would hide me (N)until Your anger returns to You,
That You would set a limit for me and remember me!
14 If a man dies, will he live again?
All the days of my labor I will wait
Until my change comes.
15 You will call, and I will answer You;
You will long for (O)the work of Your hands.
16 For now You (P)number my steps,
You do not (Q)keep watch over my sin.
17 My transgression is (R)sealed up in a bag,
And You [g]cover up my iniquity.
18 “But the falling mountain [h]crumbles away,
And the rock moves from its place;
19 Water wears away stones;
Its torrents wash away the dust of the earth;
So You (S)make man’s hope perish.
20 You forever overpower him and he (T)goes away;
You alter his appearance and send him away.
21 His sons achieve honor, but (U)he does not know it;
Or they become insignificant, but he does not perceive it.
22 But his flesh pains him,
And he mourns only for himself.”
Job 14
Easy-to-Read Version
14 “We are all human beings.[a]
Our life is short and full of trouble.
2 Our life is like a flower that grows quickly and then dies away.
Our life is like a shadow that is here for a short time and then is gone.
3 God, do you need to keep an eye on something so small?
Why bother to bring charges against me?
4 “No one can make something clean from something so dirty.
5 The length of our life has been decided.
You alone know how long that is.
You have set the limits for us and nothing can change them.
6 So stop watching us; leave us alone,
and let us enjoy this hard life until we have put in our time.
7 “There is always hope for a tree.
If it is cut down, it can grow again.
It will keep sending out new branches.
8 Its roots might grow old in the ground
and its stump die in the dirt,
9 but with water, it will grow again.
It will grow branches like a new plant.
10 But when a man dies,
he becomes weak and sick, and then he is gone!
11 Like a lake that goes dry
or a river that loses its source,
12 so people lose their lives,
never to live again.
The skies will all pass away
before they rise from death.
The skies will all disappear before
anyone wakes up from that sleep!
13 “I wish you would hide me in my grave.
I wish you would hide me there, until your anger is gone.
Then you could pick a time to remember me.
14 If a man dies, will he live again?
If so, I would gladly suffer through this time waiting for my release.[b]
15 God, you would call me,
and I would answer you.
Then I, the one you made,
would be important to you.
16 You would still watch every step I take,
but you would not remember my sins.
17 It would be as if you had sealed my sins in a bag.
It would be as if you had covered my guilt with plaster.
18 “Mountains fall and crumble away.
Large rocks break loose and fall.
19 Water flowing over stones wears them down.
Floods wash away the soil on the ground.
In the same way, God, you destroy the hope people have.
20 You defeat them completely
and then they are gone.
You change the way they look
and send them away forever to the place of death.
21 If their sons are honored, they will never know it.
If their sons do wrong, they will never see it.
22 They only feel the pain in their bodies,
and they alone cry for themselves.”
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