Study Desk

"Mortals, born of woman,^(a) are of few days^(b) and full of trouble.^(c)

They spring up like flowers^(d) and wither away;^(e) like fleeting shadows,^(f) they do not endure.^(g)

Do you fix your eye on them?^(h) Will you bring them^[a] before you for judgment?⁽ⁱ⁾

Who can bring what is pure^(j) from the impure?^(k) No one!^(l)

A person's days are determined;^(m) you have decreed the number of his months⁽ⁿ⁾ and have set limits he cannot exceed.^(o)

So look away from him and let him alone,^(p) till he has put in his time like a hired laborer.^(q)

"At least there is hope for a tree:^(r) If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots^(s) will not fail.^(t)

Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump^(u) die in the soil,

yet at the scent of water^(v) it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant.^(w)

But a man dies and is laid low;^(x) he breathes his last and is no more.^(y)

As the water of a lake dries up or a riverbed becomes parched and dry,^(z)

so he lies down and does not rise;^(aa) till the heavens are no more,^(ab) people will not awake or be roused from their sleep.^(ac)

"If only you would hide me in the grave^(ad) and conceal me till your anger has passed!^(ae) If only you would set me a time and then remember^(af) me!^(ag)

If someone dies, will they live again? All the days of my hard service^(ah) I will wait for my renewal^[b](ai) to come.

You will call and I will answer you;^(aj) you will long for the creature your hands have made.^(ak)

Surely then you will count my steps^(al) but not keep track of my sin.^(am)

My offenses will be sealed^(an) up in a bag;^(ao) you will cover over my sin.^(ap)

"But as a mountain erodes and crumbles^(aq) and as a rock is moved from its place,^(ar)

as water wears away stones and torrents^(as) wash away the soil,^(at) so you destroy a person's hope.^(au)

You overpower them once for all, and they are gone;^(av) you change their countenance and send them away.^(aw)

If their children are honored, they do not know it; if their offspring are brought low, they do not see it.^(ax)

They feel but the pain of their own bodies^(ay) and mourn only for themselves.^(az)"