1. “Man, born of woman,lives but a few days, and they are full of trouble.
2. He grows up like a flower and then withers away;he flees like a shadow, and does not remain.
3. Do you fix your eye on such a one?And do you bring me before you for judgment?
4. Who can make a clean thing come from an unclean?No one!
5. Since man’s days are determined,the number of his months is under your control;you have set his limit and he cannot pass it.
6. Look away from him and let him desist,until he fulfills his time like a hired man.
7. “But there is hope for a tree:If it is cut down, it will sprout again,and its new shoots will not fail.
8. Although its roots may grow old in the groundand its stump begins to die in the soil,
9. at the scent of water it will flourishand put forth shoots like a new plant.