Study Desk

"Will You scare away a scattered leaf? Or will You pursue the dry chaff?

"You put my feet in the stocks And watch all my paths; You set a limit for the soles of my feet,

While I am decaying like a rotten thing, Like a garment that is moth-eaten.

"Like a flower he comes out and withers. He also flees like a shadow and does not remain.

"Look away from him so that he may rest, Until he fulfills his day like a hired worker.

"For there is hope for a tree, When it is cut down, that it will sprout again, And its shoots will not fail.

At the scent of water it will flourish And produce sprigs like a plant.

"But a man dies and lies prostrate. A person passes away, and where is he?

"As water evaporates from the sea, And a river becomes parched and dried up,

So a man lies down and does not rise. Until the heavens no longer exist, He will not awake nor be woken from his sleep.

"Oh that You would hide me in Sheol, That You would conceal me until Your wrath returns to You, That You would set a limit for me and remember me!

"If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my struggle I will wait Until my relief comes.

"My wrongdoing is sealed up in a bag, And You cover over my guilt.

Water wears away stones, Its torrents wash away the dust of the earth; So You destroy a man's hope.

"Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge, And fill himself with the east wind?

"What is man, that he would be pure, Or he who is born of a woman, that he would be righteous?

How much less one who is detestable and corrupt: A person who drinks malice like water!

"He wanders about for food, saying, 'Where is it?' He knows that a day of darkness is at hand.

"Distress and anguish terrify him, They overpower him like a king ready for the attack,

"And You have shriveled me up, It has become a witness; And my infirmity rises up against me, It testifies to my face.