1 Life* is short and full of trouble, 2 like a flower that blooms and withers, like a passing shadow that soon disappears. 3 Do you even notice me, God, and why do you have to drag me to court? 4 Who can bring something clean of what is unclean? No one. 5 You have determined how long we shall live—the number of months, a time limit on our lives. 6 So leave us alone and give us some peace—so like a laborer we could enjoy a few hours of rest at the end of the day.

7 Even a tree that's cut down has the hope of sprouting again, of sending up shoots and continuing to live. 8 Even though its roots grow old in the earth, and its stump dies in the ground, 9 just a trickle of water† will make it bud and grow branches like a young plant.

10 But human beings die, their strength dwindles away; they perish, and where are they then? 11 Like water evaporating from a lake and a river that dries up and disappears, 12 so human beings lie down and don't get up again. Until the heavens cease to exist they will not awake from their sleep.

13 I wish you would hide me in Sheol;‡ conceal me there until your anger is gone. Set a definite time for me there, and remember me! 14 Will the dead live again? Then I would have hope through all my time of trouble until my release comes. 15 You would call and I would answer you; you would long for me, the being that you made. 16 Then you would look after me§ and wouldn't be watching me to see if I sinned. 17 My sins would be sealed up in a bag and you would cover my guilt.

18 But just as the mountains crumble and fall, and the rocks tumble down; 19 as water wears away the stones, as floods wash away the soil, so you destroy the hope people have. 20 You continually overpower them and they pass away; you distort their faces in death and send them away. 21 Their children may become important or fall from their positions, but they don't know or see any of this. 22 As people die they only know their own pain and are sad for themselves.”