• If a Man Dies, Will He Live Again?

  • 1 “Man, who is born of woman, Is short-lived and full of turmoil.
  • 2 “Like a flower he comes forth and withers. He also flees like a shadow and does not stand.
  • 3 “You also open Your eyes on him And bring me into judgment with Yourself.
  • 4 “Who can make the clean out of the unclean? No one!
  • 5 “Since his days are determined, The number of his months is with You; And his limits You have set so that he cannot pass.
  • 6 “Turn Your gaze from him that he may cease from toil, Until he accepts his day like a hired man.
  • 7 “For there is hope for a tree, When it is cut down, that it will change back sprouting again, And its shoots will not cease.
  • 8 “Though its roots grow old in the ground And its stump dies in the dry soil,
  • 9 At the scent of water it will flourish And put forth sprigs like a plant.
  • 10 “But man dies and lies prostrate. Man breathes his last, and where is he?
  • 11 “As water evaporates from the sea, And a river becomes parched and dried up,
  • 12 So man lies down and does not rise. Until the heavens are no longer, He will not awake nor be aroused out of his sleep.
  • 13 “Oh that You would conceal me in Sheol, That You would hide me until Your anger returns to You, That You would set a limit for me and remember me!
  • 14 “If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my labor I will wait Until my change comes.
  • 15 “You will call, and I will answer You; You will long for the work of Your hands.
  • 16 “For now You number my steps, You do not keep watch over my sin.
  • 17 “My transgression is sealed up in a bag, And You cover up my iniquity.
  • 18 “But the falling mountain crumbles away, And the rock moves from its place;
  • 19 Water wears away stones; Its torrents wash away the dust of the earth; So You make man’s hope perish.
  • 20 “You forever overpower him and he goes away; You alter his appearance and send him away.
  • 21 “His sons achieve honor, but he does not know it; Or they become insignificant, but he does not perceive it.
  • 22 “But his flesh pains him, And he mourns only for himself.”