1: As for man, the son of woman, his days are short and full of trouble. 2: He comes out like a flower, and is cut down: he goes in flight like a shade, and is never seen again. 3: Is it on such a one as this that your eyes are fixed, with the purpose of judging him? 4: If only a clean thing might come out of an unclean! But it is not possible. 5: 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; 6: 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. 7: 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. 8: Though its root may be old in the earth, and its cut-off end may be dead in the dust; 9: Still, at the smell of water, it will make buds, and put out branches like a young plant. 10: But man comes to his death and is gone: he gives up his spirit, and where is he? 11: The waters go from a pool, and a river becomes waste and dry; 12: 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. 13: 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! 14: 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. 15: At the sound of your voice I would give an answer, and you would have a desire for the work of your hands. 16: For now my steps are numbered by you, and my sin is not overlooked. 17: My wrongdoing is corded up in a bag, and my sin is shut up safe. 18: But truly a mountain falling comes to dust, and a rock is moved from its place; 19: 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. 20: You overcome him for ever, and he is gone; his face is changed in death, and you send him away. 21: His sons come to honour, and he has no knowledge of it; they are made low, but he is not conscious of it. 22: Only his flesh still has pain, and his soul is sad.
