Job 14:1-10

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

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

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

4Who can bring purity out of an impure person? 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.

6So 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.

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

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

10“But when people die, their strength is gone. They breathe their last, and then where are they?