1 “A human being born of a woman is short of days and full of troubles.
2 Like a flower he comes up, and he withers away; and he flees like a shadow, but he does not last.
3 Even on such a one you fix your eyes, and you bring me into judgment with you.
4 “Who can bring a clean thing from an unclean thing? No one!
5 If his days are determined, the number of his months is with you; you have appointed his boundaries, and he cannot cross them.
6 Look away from him, and let him desist until he enjoys his days like a laborer.
7 “Indeed, there is hope for a tree: if it is cut down, then it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not cease;
8 though its root grows old in the earth, and its stump dies in the dust,
9 at the scent of water it will bud, and it will put forth branches like a young plant.
10 “But a man dies, and he dwindles away; thus a human being passes away, and where is he?
11 As water disappears from a lake, and a river withers away and dries up,
12 so a man lies down, and he does not arise. Until the heavens are no more, they will not awaken, and they will not be roused out of their sleep.
13 “O that you would conceal me in Sheol, that you would hide me until your wrath is past, that you would appoint a set time for me and remember me.
14 If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my compulsory service I will wait, until the coming of my relief.
15 You would call, and I myself would answer you; you would long for the work of your hand.
16 For then you would count my steps, but you would not keep watch over my sin.
17 My transgression would be sealed in a bag, and you would cover over my guilt.
18 “But a mountain falls; it crumbles away, and a rock moves away from its place.
19 Water wears away stones; its torrents wash away the soil of the earth; so you destroy the hope of human beings.
20 You overpower him forever, and he passes away; you change his countenance, then you send him away.
21 His children may come to honor, but he does not know it; or they may become lowly, but he does not realize it.
22 He feels only the pain of his own body, and his inner self mourns for him.”