Add parallel Print Page Options

“Even a tree has more hope!
    If it is cut down, it will sprout again
    and grow new branches.
Though its roots have grown old in the earth
    and its stump decays,
at the scent of water it will bud
    and sprout again like a new seedling.

10 “But when people die, their strength is gone.
    They breathe their last, and then where are they?
11 As water evaporates from a lake
    and a river disappears in drought,
12 people are laid to rest and do not rise again.
    Until the heavens are no more, they will not wake up
    nor be roused from their sleep.

Read full chapter

Trees versus humans

Indeed there is hope for a tree.
    If it’s cut down and still sprouting
    and its shoots don’t fail,
    if its roots age in the ground
        and its stump dies in the dust,
    at the scent of water, it will bud
        and produce sprouts like a plant.
10 But a human dies and lies there;
    a person expires, and where is he?
11 Water vanishes from the sea;
    a river dries up completely.
12 But a human lies down and doesn’t rise
        until the heavens cease;
    they don’t get up and awaken from sleep.

Read full chapter