5. The length of our life has been decided. You alone know how long that is. You have set the limits for us and nothing can change them.
6. So stop watching us; leave us alone, and let us enjoy this hard life until we have put in our time.
7. “There is always hope for a tree. If it is cut down, it can grow again. It will keep sending out new branches.
8. Its roots might grow old in the ground and its stump die in the dirt,
9. but with water, it will grow again. It will grow branches like a new plant.
10. But when a man dies, he becomes weak and sick, and then he is gone!
11. Like a lake that goes dry or a river that loses its source,
12. so people lose their lives, never to live again. The skies will all pass away before they rise from death. The skies will all disappear before anyone wakes up from that sleep!
13. “I wish you would hide me in my grave. I wish you would hide me there, until your anger is gone. Then you could pick a time to remember me.
14. If a man dies, will he live again? If so, I would gladly suffer through this time waiting for my release.