1734 verses about Life

What is man, that you should magnify him, that you should set your mind on him,

(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow.)

“Can the papyrus grow up without mire? Can the rushes grow without water?

While it is yet in its greenness, not cut down, it withers before any other reed.

He is green before the sun. His shoots go out along his garden.

His roots are wrapped around the rock pile. He sees the place of stones.

Behold, this is the joy of his way: out of the earth, others shall spring.

I am blameless. I don’t respect myself. I despise my life.

“Now my days are swifter than a runner. They flee away, they see no good.

They have passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle that swoops on the prey.

“My soul is weary of my life. I will give free course to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

Are your days as the days of mortals, or your years as man’s years,

“‘Your hands have framed me and fashioned me altogether, yet you destroy me.

Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay. Will you bring me into dust again?

Haven’t you poured me out like milk, and curdled me like cheese?

You have clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.

You have granted me life and loving kindness. Your visitation has preserved my spirit.

“‘Why, then, have you brought me out of the womb? I wish I had given up the spirit, and no eye had seen me.

Aren’t my days few? Cease then. Leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort,

Life shall be clearer than the noonday. Though there is darkness, it shall be as the morning.

in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?

“Be silent, leave me alone, that I may speak. Let come on me what will.

Why should I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in my hand?

Who is he who will contend with me? For then would I hold my peace and give up the spirit.

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

He grows up like a flower, and is cut down. He also flees like a shadow, and doesn’t continue.

Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his bounds that he can’t pass;

“For there is hope for a tree, If it is cut down, that it will sprout again, that the tender branch of it will not cease.

yet through the scent of water it will bud, and sprout boughs like a plant.

As the waters fail from the sea, and the river wastes and dries up,

He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive tree.

For when a few years have come, I shall go the way of no return.

My days are past, my plans are broken off, as are the thoughts of my heart.

He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone. My hope he has plucked up like a tree.

Don’t you know this from old time, since man was placed on earth,

His bones are full of his youth, but youth shall lie down with him in the dust.

“Why do the wicked live, become old, yes, and grow mighty in power?

They spend their days in prosperity. In an instant they go down to Sheol.

For what does he care for his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off?

Another dies in bitterness of soul, and never tastes of good.

Yet God preserves the mighty by his power. He rises up who has no assurance of life.

(for the length of my life is still in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils);

I hold fast to my righteousness, and will not let it go. My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

For what is the hope of the godless, when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?

He builds his house as the moth, as a booth which the watchman makes.

Man doesn’t know its price; Neither is it found in the land of the living.

as I was in the ripeness of my days, when the friendship of God was in my tent,

when the Almighty was yet with me, and my children were around me,

when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out streams of oil for me,

Then I said, ‘I shall die in my own house, I shall count my days as the sand.

My root is spread out to the waters. The dew lies all night on my branch.

Didn’t he who made me in the womb make him? Didn’t one fashion us in the womb?

if I have eaten its fruits without money, or have caused its owners to lose their life,

The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

Behold, I am toward God even as you are. I am also formed out of the clay.

He keeps back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword.

So that his life abhors bread, and his soul dainty food.

Yes, his soul draws near to the pit, and his life to the destroyers.

His flesh shall be fresher than a child’s. He returns to the days of his youth.

He has redeemed my soul from going into the pit. My life shall see the light.’

“Behold, God does all these things, twice, yes three times, with a man,

to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of the living.

If he set his heart on himself, If he gathered to himself his spirit and his breath,

all flesh would perish together, and man would turn again to dust.

He doesn’t preserve the life of the wicked, but gives to the afflicted their right.

They die in youth. Their life perishes among the unclean.

Behold, God is great, and we don’t know him. The number of his years is unsearchable.

He seals up the hand of every man, that all men whom he has made may know it.

to satisfy the waste and desolate ground, to cause the tender grass to grow?

Can you count the months that they fulfill? Or do you know the time when they give birth?

They bow themselves, they bear their young. They end their labor pains.

Their young ones become strong. They grow up in the open field. They go out, and don’t return again.

The lotuses cover him with their shade. The willows of the brook surround him.

“I will not keep silence concerning his limbs, nor his mighty strength, nor his goodly frame.

After this Job lived one hundred forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, to four generations.

So Job died, being old and full of days.

He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that produces its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither. Whatever he does shall prosper.

I laid myself down and slept. I awakened; for Yahweh sustains me.

For you have made him a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor.

Behold, and answer me, Yahweh, my God. Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death;

My soul, you have said to Yahweh, “You are my Lord. Apart from you I have no good thing.”

Therefore my heart is glad, and my tongue rejoices. My body shall also dwell in safety.

You will show me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. In your right hand there are pleasures forever more.

from men by your hand, Yahweh, from men of the world, whose portion is in this life. You fill the belly of your cherished ones. Your sons have plenty, and they store up wealth for their children.

As for me, I shall see your face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with seeing your form.

Yahweh lives; and blessed be my rock. Exalted be the God of my salvation,

He asked life of you, you gave it to him, even length of days forever and ever.

For you make him most blessed forever. You make him glad with joy in your presence.

I was thrown on you from my mother’s womb. You are my God since my mother bore me.

Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog.

The humble shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise Yahweh who seek after him. Let your hearts live forever.

All the rich ones of the earth shall eat and worship. All those who go down to the dust shall bow before him, even he who can’t keep his soul alive.

He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Surely goodness and loving kindness shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in Yahweh’s house forever.

His soul shall dwell at ease. His offspring shall inherit the land.

Yahweh is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? Yahweh is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?

One thing I have asked of Yahweh, that I will seek after: that I may dwell in Yahweh’s house all the days of my life, to see Yahweh’s beauty, and to inquire in his temple.

I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of Yahweh in the land of the living.

Yahweh, you have brought up my soul from Sheol. You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.