14
Job prayed to God
1 “We humans are very frail.
We live only a short time, and we experience a lot of trouble.
2 We disappear quickly, like flowers that grow from the ground quickly and then wither and die [SIM].
We are like shadows that disappear when the sun stops shining.
3 Yahweh, why do you keep watching me to see if I am doing something that is wrong [RHQ]?
Are you wanting to take me to court to judge me?
4 People are sinners from the time when they are born;
who can cause them to be sinless? No one [RHQ]!
5 You have decided how long our lives will be.
You have decided how many months we will live,
and we cannot live more months than the ◄limit/number of months► that you have decided.
6 So please stop examining us, and allow us to be alone,
until/while we finish our time here on earth, like a man finishes his work at the end of the day.
Job said that we all die
7 If someone cuts a tree down,
we hope that it will sprout again and grow new branches.
8 Its roots in the ground may be very old,
and its stump may decay,
9 but if some water falls on it,
it may bud/sprout and send up shoots like a young plant.
10 But when we people lose all our strength and die,
we stop breathing and then we are gone forever.
11 Just like water evaporates from the ocean,
or like a riverbed dries up,
12 people lie down and die and do not get up again.
Until the heavens disappear,
people who die [EUP] do not wake up,
and no one can wake them up.
13 “Yahweh, I wish that you would put me safely in the place of the dead and forget about me
until you are no longer angry with me.
I wish that you would decide how much time I would spend there,
and then remember that I am there.
14 When we humans die, we will certainly not live again [RHQ].
If I knew that we would live again, I would wait patiently,
and I would wait for you to release me from my sufferings.
15 You would call me, and I would answer.
You would be eager to see me, one of the creatures that you had made.
16 You would take care of [MET] me,
instead of watching me to see if I would sin.
17 It is as though the record of my sins would be sealed in a small bag,
and you would cover them up.
18 “But, just like mountains crumble and rocks fall down from a cliff,
19 and just like water slowly wears away the stones, and just like floods wash away soil,
you eventually destroy us; you do not allow us to continue to ◄hope/confidently expect► that we will keep on living.
20 You always defeat us, and then we die [EUP].
You cause our faces to look ugly after we die,
and you send us away.
21 When we die we do not know if our sons will grow up and do things that will cause them to be honored.
And if they become disgraced, we do not see that, either.
22 We will feel our own pains; we will not feel anything else;
we will be sorry for ourselves, not for anyone else.”