[1] We are all born weak and helpless. All lead the same short, troubled life. [2] We grow and wither as quickly as flowers; we disappear like shadows. [3] Will you even look at me, God, or put me on trial and judge me? [4] Nothing clean can ever come from anything as unclean as human beings. [5] The length of our lives is decided beforehand- the number of months we will live. You have settled it, and it can't be changed. [6] Look away from us and leave us alone; let us enjoy our hard life-if we can. [7] There is hope for a tree that has been cut down; it can come back to life and sprout. [8] Even though its roots grow old, and its stump dies in the ground, [9] with water it will sprout like a young plant. [10] But we die, and that is the end of us; we die, and where are we then? [11] Like rivers that stop running, and lakes that go dry, [12] people die, never to rise. They will never wake up while the sky endures; they will never stir from their sleep. [13] I wish you would hide me in the world of the dead; let me be hidden until your anger is over, and then set a time to remember me. [14] If a man dies, can he come back to life? But I will wait for better times, wait till this time of trouble is ended. [15] Then you will call, and I will answer, and you will be pleased with me, your creature. [16] Then you will watch every step I take, but you will not keep track of my sins. [17] You will forgive them and put them away; you will wipe out all the wrongs I have done. [18] There comes a time when mountains fall and solid cliffs are moved away. [19] Water will wear down rocks, and heavy rain will wash away the soil; so you destroy our hope for life. [20] You overpower us and send us away forever; our faces are twisted in death. [21] Our children win honor, but we never know it, nor are we told when they are disgraced. [22] We feel only the pain of our own bodies and the grief of our own minds.
