Job 14:1-9 ▼

1 “How frail is humanity! How short is life, how full of trouble!

2 We blossom like a flower and then wither. Like a passing shadow, we quickly disappear.

3 Must you keep an eye on such a frail creature and demand an accounting from me?

4 Who can bring purity out of an impure person? No one!

5 You have decided the length of our lives. You know how many months we will live, and we are not given a minute longer.

6 So leave us alone and let us rest! We are like hired hands, so let us finish our work in peace.

7 “Even a tree has more hope! If it is cut down, it will sprout again and grow new branches.

8 Though its roots have grown old in the earth and its stump decays,

9 at the scent of water it will bud and sprout again like a new seedling.