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2 He blossoms like a flower and then withers away;
he flees like a shadow and does not endure.
3 Do You fix Your eyes on such a one?
Will You bring me before You in judgment?
4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean thing?
No one!
5 Seeing that man’s days are determined,
and the number of his months is set with You,
and You have appointed limits that he cannot exceed,
6 look away from him and let him rest,
until he shall fulfil his days like a hired man.
7 “At least there is hope for a tree:
if it is cut down, it will sprout again,
and its tender shoots will not cease.
8 Though its roots grow old in the earth,
and its stump die in the ground,
9 yet at the scent of water it will bud,
and put forth branches like a sapling.
10 But man dies and is laid away;
man breathes his last—and where is he?
11 As water disappears from the sea,
and a river becomes parched and dries up,
12 so man lies down and does not rise again;
till the heavens are no more they will not awake,
they will not be roused from their sleep.
13 “If only You would hide me in Sheol,
and conceal me there until Your wrath has passed,
then You would appoint me a set time and remember me!
14 If a man dies, will he live again?
All the days of my hard service I will wait,
until my release should come.
15 You will call, and I will answer You;
You will long for the work of Your hands.
16 For then You would not number my steps,
and You would not keep watch over my sin.
17 My transgression would be sealed up in a bag,
and You would cover over my iniquity.
18 “But as a mountain erodes and crumbles,
and as a rock is removed from its place,
19 water wears away stones,
and torrents wash away the soil,
so You destroy the hope of man.
20 You completely overpower him, and he passes away;
You change his appearance and send him away.
21 If his sons receive honour, he does not know it;
and if they are brought low, he does not perceive it.
22 He feels only the pain of his own flesh,
and he mourns only for himself.”