Job

Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.

1Every person born of a woman lives only a few days, and those days are full of trouble.

2He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.

2He comes up like a flower, then he withers. He slips away like a shadow and does not stay.

3And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee?

3Do you really watch someone like that so closely? Do you bring me to trial in front of you?

4Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.

4Who can bring something clean out of something unclean? No one can.

5Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;

5A person's days are already decided. You know the number of his months. You set limits he cannot cross.

6Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day.

6So look away from him and let him rest. Let him get through his day like a hired worker.

7For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.

7There is hope for a tree. If it is cut down, it will grow again, and its new shoots will keep coming.

8Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground;

8Its roots may grow old in the ground, and its stump may die in the soil.

9Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant.

9But at the smell of water it will bud and put out branches like a young plant.

10But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?

10But a man dies and is laid low. He takes his last breath, and then where is he?

Note"Giveth up the ghost" in the KJV simply means breathes his last, or dies. It has nothing to do with ghosts as we use the word today.

11As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up:

11Water drains away from a lake, and a river runs dry and empty.

12So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.

12In the same way a man lies down and does not get up. Until the sky is gone, he will not wake.

13O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!

13I wish you would hide me among the dead, out of sight, until your anger passed. Set a time, then remember me.

NoteThe KJV says "the grave." The Hebrew word is Sheol, the place where the dead were thought to go. Job is asking to be hidden there for a time, not buried and forgotten.

14If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.

14If a man dies, will he live again? I would wait through all my hard days until my change came.

15Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.

15You would call, and I would answer you. You would long to see the work of your own hands.

16For now thou numberest my steps: dost thou not watch over my sin?

16Then you would count my steps, but you would not keep a record of my sin.

17My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity.

17My wrongs would be sealed shut in a bag. You would cover over everything I did wrong.

18And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of his place.

18But a mountain crumbles and falls apart, and a rock is pushed out of its place.

19The waters wear the stones: thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man.

19Water wears away stone, and floods wash the soil off the land. In the same way you destroy a person's hope.

20Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth: thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away.

20You overpower him for good, and he is gone. You change his face and send him away.

Note"Thou prevailest" here means you overpower him. In some other KJV verses "prevent" means to go before, but "prevail" keeps its usual sense of winning against someone.

21His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.

21If his sons are honored, he does not know it. If they are brought low, he never sees it.

22But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn.

22He feels only the pain in his own body, and he mourns only for himself.