Job Laments the Finality of Death 1 UDB We humans are very frail. We are born, and we live only a short time; we experience much trouble. BSB BSB: “Man, who is born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble.
2 UDB We disappear quickly, like flowers that grow from the ground quickly and then wither and die. We are like shadows that disappear when the sun stops shining. BSB BSB: Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
3 UDB Yahweh, why do you keep watching me to see if I am doing something that is wrong? Do you want to take me to court to judge me? BSB BSB: Do You open Your eyes to one like this? Will You bring him into judgment before You?
4 UDB No one can bring something acceptable to God out of something that is not acceptable to him. BSB BSB: Who can bring out clean from unclean? No one!
5 UDB You have decided how long our lives will be. You have decided how many months we will live, and we cannot live longer than the time that you have decided. BSB BSB: Since his days are determined and the number of his months is with You, and since You have set limits that he cannot exceed,
6 UDB So please stop examining us, and allow us to be alone so that we might enjoy our life of hard labor, if a hired worker can possibly do so. BSB BSB: look away from him and let him rest, so he can enjoy his day as a hired hand.
7 UDB If we cut a tree down, sometimes we hope that it will sprout again and grow new branches. BSB BSB: For there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its tender shoots will not fail.
8 UDB Its roots in the ground may be very old, and its stump may decay, BSB BSB: If its roots grow old in the ground and its stump dies in the soil,
9 UDB but if some water falls on it, it may bud and send up shoots like a young plant. BSB BSB: at the scent of water it will bud and put forth twigs like a sapling.
10 UDB But when we people lose all our strength and die, we stop breathing, and then we are gone forever. BSB BSB: But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last, and where is he?
11 UDB Just as water evaporates from a lake, or as a riverbed dries up, BSB BSB: As water disappears from the sea and a river becomes parched and dry,
12 UDB people lie down and die and do not get up again. Until the heavens do not exist any longer; people who die do not wake up, and no one can wake them up. BSB BSB: so a man lies down and does not rise. Until the heavens are no more, he will not be awakened or roused from sleep.
13 UDB Yahweh, I wish that you would put me safely in the place of the dead and forget about me, so that I do not suffer any more until you are no longer angry with me. I wish that you would decide how much time I would spend there, and then remember that I am there. BSB BSB: If only You would hide me in Sheol and conceal me until Your anger has passed! If only You would appoint a time for me and then remember me!
14 UDB When we humans die, we will certainly not live again. If I knew that we would live again, I would wait patiently for you to release me from my sufferings. BSB BSB: When a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, until my renewal comes.
15 UDB You would call me, and I would answer. You would be eager to see me, one of the creatures that you had made. BSB BSB: You will call, and I will answer; You will desire the work of Your hands.
16 UDB You would carefully see where I went, and you would not be interested in seeing whether I sinned or not. BSB BSB: For then You would count my steps, but would not keep track of my sin.
17 UDB The record of my sins would be sealed in a small bag, and you would cover them. BSB BSB: My transgression would be sealed in a bag, and You would cover over my iniquity.
18 UDB But, just as mountains crumble and rocks fall down from a cliff, BSB BSB: But as a mountain erodes and crumbles and a rock is dislodged from its place,
19 UDB and just as water slowly wears away the stones, and just as floods wash away soil, you eventually destroy us; you do not allow us to continue to hope that we will keep on living. BSB BSB: as water wears away the stones and torrents wash away the soil, so You destroy a man’s hope.
20 UDB You always defeat us, and then we die. You cause our faces to look ugly after we die, and you send us away. BSB BSB: You forever overpower him, and he passes on; You change his countenance and send him away.
21 UDB When we die, we do not know if our sons will grow up and do things that will cause other people to honor them. Or if they become disgraced, we do not know that either. BSB BSB: If his sons receive honor, he does not know it; if they are brought low, he is unaware.
22 UDB We will feel our own pain; we will not feel anything else; we will be sorry for ourselves, not for anyone else." BSB BSB: He feels only the pain of his own body and mourns only for himself.”
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