14 All of us[a] are born of women,
have few days, and are full of turmoil.
2 Like a flower, we[b] bloom, then wither,
flee like a shadow, and don’t last.
(3 Yes, you open your eyes on this one;
you bring me into trial against you.)
4 Who can make pure from impure?
Nobody.
5 If our days are fixed, the number of our months with you,
you set a statute and we can’t exceed it.
6 Look away from us that we may rest,
until we are satisfied like a worker at day’s end.
Trees versus humans
7 Indeed there is hope for a tree.
If it’s cut down and still sprouting
and its shoots don’t fail,
8 if its roots age in the ground
and its stump dies in the dust,
9 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.
Momentary hope
13 I wish you would hide me in the underworld,[c]
conceal me until your anger passes,
set a time for me, and remember me.
14 If people die, will they live again?
All the days of my service I would wait
until my restoration took place.
15 You would call, and I would answer you;
you would long for your handiwork.
16 Though you now number my steps,
you would not keep a record of my sin.
17 My rebellion is sealed in a bag;
you would cover my sin.
God crushes hope
18 But an eroding mountain breaks up,
and rock is displaced.
19 Water wears away boulders;
floods carry away soil;
you destroy a people’s hope.
20 You overpower them relentlessly, and they die;
you change their appearance and send them away.
21 Their children achieve honor, and they don’t know it;
their children become insignificant, and they don’t see it.
22 They only feel the pain of their body,
and they mourn for themselves.