51 lines
2.1 KiB
Markdown
51 lines
2.1 KiB
Markdown
# Chapter 14
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1 “How frail is humanity!
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How short is life, how full of trouble!
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2 We blossom like a flower and then wither.
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Like a passing shadow, we quickly disappear.
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3 Must you keep an eye on such a frail creature
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and demand an accounting from me?
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4 Who can bring purity out of an impure person?
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No one!
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5 You have decided the length of our lives.
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You know how many months we will live,
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and we are not given a minute longer.
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6 So leave us alone and let us rest!
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We are like hired hands, so let us finish our work in peace.
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7 “Even a tree has more hope!
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If it is cut down, it will sprout again
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and grow new branches.
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8 Though its roots have grown old in the earth
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and its stump decays,
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9 at the scent of water it will bud
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and sprout again like a new seedling.
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10 “But when people die, their strength is gone.
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They breathe their last, and then where are they?
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11 As water evaporates from a lake
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and a river disappears in drought,
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12 people are laid to rest and do not rise again.
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Until the heavens are no more, they will not wake up
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nor be roused from their sleep.
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13 “I wish you would hide me in the grave
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and forget me there until your anger has passed.
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But mark your calendar to think of me again!
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14 Can the dead live again?
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If so, this would give me hope through all my years of struggle,
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and I would eagerly await the release of death.
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15 You would call and I would answer,
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and you would yearn for me, your handiwork.
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16 For then you would guard my steps,
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instead of watching for my sins.
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17 My sins would be sealed in a pouch,
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and you would cover my guilt.
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18 “But instead, as mountains fall and crumble
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and as rocks fall from a cliff,
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19 as water wears away the stones
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and floods wash away the soil,
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so you destroy people’s hope.
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20 You always overpower them, and they pass from the scene.
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You disfigure them in death and send them away.
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21 They never know if their children grow up in honor
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or sink to insignificance.
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22 They suffer painfully;
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their life is full of trouble.” |