[1] ˻Job said,˼ “We are all human beings. Our life is short and full of trouble.
[2] Man’s life is like a flower. He grows quickly, and then dies away. Man’s life is like a shadow that is here for a short time, and then it is gone.
[3] That is true, but God, will you look at me, a man? And will you come into court with me and let us both give our arguments?
[4] “But what does something clean have in common with something dirty? Nothing!
[5] Man’s life is limited. God, you decide how long a man lives. You set those limits for a man and nothing can change them.
[6] So God, stop watching us. Leave us alone. Let us enjoy our hard life until our time is finished.
[7] “There is hope for a tree. If it is cut down, it can grow again. It will keep sending out new branches.
[8] Its roots might grow old in the ground and its stump die in the dirt,
[9] but with water it will grow again. It will grow branches like a new plant.
[10] But when man dies, he is finished! When man dies, he is gone.
[11] You could take all the water from the sea, until the rivers all run dry, ˻and the man will still be dead˼!
[12] When a person dies, he lies down and he doesn’t get up. The skies will all disappear before a dead man will wake up. No. People don’t wake up from that sleep.
[13] “I wish you would hide me in my grave. I wish you would hide me there, until your anger is gone. Then you could pick a time to remember me.
[14] If a person dies, will he live again? I would wait as long as I must until I could be set free.
[15] God, you would call me and I would answer you. Then I, the person you made, would be important to you.
[16] You would still watch every step I take, but you wouldn’t remember my sins.
[17] You would tie up my sins in a bag, seal it, ˻and throw it away˼!
[18] “Mountains fall and crumble away. Large rocks break loose and fall.
[19] Water flowing over stones wears them down. Floods wash away the soil on the ground. In the same way, God, you destroy a person’s hope.
[20] You defeat him completely and then you leave. You make him sad and send him away forever ˻to the place of death˼.
[21] If his sons are honored, he never knows it. If his sons do wrong, he never sees it.
[22] That man only feels the pain in his body, and he cries loudly only for himself.”