| New Living Translation | NET Bible |
| 1“How frail is humanity! How short is life, how full of trouble! | 1"Man, born of woman, lives but a few days, and they are full of trouble. |
| 2We blossom like a flower and then wither. Like a passing shadow, we quickly disappear. | 2He grows up like a flower and then withers away; he flees like a shadow, and does not remain. |
| 3Must you keep an eye on such a frail creature and demand an accounting from me? | 3Do you fix your eye on such a one? And do you bring me before you for judgment? |
| 4Who can bring purity out of an impure person? No one! | 4Who can make a clean thing come from an unclean? No one! |
| 5You have decided the length of our lives. You know how many months we will live, and we are not given a minute longer. | 5Since man's days are determined, the number of his months is under your control; you have set his limit and he cannot pass it. |
| 6So leave us alone and let us rest! We are like hired hands, so let us finish our work in peace. | 6Look away from him and let him desist, until he fulfills his time like a hired man. |
| 7“Even a tree has more hope! If it is cut down, it will sprout again and grow new branches. | 7"But there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail. |
| 8Though its roots have grown old in the earth and its stump decays, | 8Although its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump begins to die in the soil, |
| 9at the scent of water it will bud and sprout again like a new seedling. | 9at the scent of water it will flourish and put forth shoots like a new plant. |
| 10“But when people die, their strength is gone. They breathe their last, and then where are they? | 10But man dies and is powerless; he expires--and where is he? |
| 11As water evaporates from a lake and a river disappears in drought, | 11As water disappears from the sea, or a river drains away and dries up, |
| 12people are laid to rest and do not rise again. Until the heavens are no more, they will not wake up nor be roused from their sleep. | 12so man lies down and does not rise; until the heavens are no more, they will not awake nor arise from their sleep. |
| 13“I wish you would hide me in the grave and forget me there until your anger has passed. But mark your calendar to think of me again! | 13"O that you would hide me in Sheol, and conceal me till your anger has passed! O that you would set me a time and then remember me! |
| 14Can the dead live again? If so, this would give me hope through all my years of struggle, and I would eagerly await the release of death. | 14If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait until my release comes. |
| 15You would call and I would answer, and you would yearn for me, your handiwork. | 15You will call and I--I will answer you; you will long for the creature you have made. |
| 16For then you would guard my steps, instead of watching for my sins. | 16"Surely now you count my steps; then you would not mark my sin. |
| 17My sins would be sealed in a pouch, and you would cover my guilt. | 17My offenses would be sealed up in a bag; you would cover over my sin. |
| 18“But instead, as mountains fall and crumble and as rocks fall from a cliff, | 18But as a mountain falls away and crumbles, and as a rock will be removed from its place, |
| 19as water wears away the stones and floods wash away the soil, so you destroy people’s hope. | 19as water wears away stones, and torrents wash away the soil, so you destroy man's hope. |
| 20You always overpower them, and they pass from the scene. You disfigure them in death and send them away. | 20You overpower him once for all, and he departs; you change his appearance and send him away. |
| 21They never know if their children grow up in honor or sink to insignificance. | 21If his sons are honored, he does not know it; if they are brought low, he does not see it. |
| 22They suffer painfully; their life is full of trouble.” | 22Only his flesh has pain for himself, and he mourns for himself." |
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