Chapter 14

  As for man, the son of woman, his days are short and full of trouble.  

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  He comes out like a flower, and is cut down: he goes in flight like a shade, and is never seen again.  

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  Is it on such a one as this that your eyes are fixed, with the purpose of judging him?  

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  If only a clean thing might come out of an unclean! But it is not possible.  

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  If his days are ordered, and you have knowledge of the number of his months, having given him a fixed limit past which he may not go;  

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  Let your eyes be turned away from him, and take your hand from him, so that he may have pleasure at the end of his day, like a servant working for payment.  

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  For there is hope of a tree; if it is cut down, it will come to life again, and its branches will not come to an end.  

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  Though its root may be old in the earth, and its cut-off end may be dead in the dust;  

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  Still, at the smell of water, it will make buds, and put out branches like a young plant.  

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  But man comes to his death and is gone: he gives up his spirit, and where is he?  

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  The waters go from a pool, and a river becomes waste and dry;  

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  So man goes down to his last resting-place and comes not again: till the heavens come to an end, they will not be awake or come out of their sleep.  

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  If only you would keep me safe in the underworld, putting me in a secret place till your wrath is past, giving me a fixed time when I might come to your memory again!  

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  If death takes a man, will he come to life again? All the days of my trouble I would be waiting, till the time came for me to be free.  

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  At the sound of your voice I would give an answer, and you would have a desire for the work of your hands.  

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  For now my steps are numbered by you, and my sin is not overlooked.  

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  My wrongdoing is corded up in a bag, and my sin is shut up safe.  

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  But truly a mountain falling comes to dust, and a rock is moved from its place;  

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  The stones are crushed small by the force of the waters; the dust of the earth is washed away by their overflowing: and so you put an end to the hope of man.  

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  You overcome him for ever, and he is gone; his face is changed in death, and you send him away.  

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  His sons come to honour, and he has no knowledge of it; they are made low, but he is not conscious of it.  

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  Only his flesh still has pain, and his soul is sad.  

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