Read the Bible

¹ "Man who is ^(a)born of a woman
    is ^(b)few of days and ^(c)full of trouble.
² He comes out like ^(d)a flower and ^(e)withers;
    he flees like ^(f)a shadow and continues not.
³ And do you ^(g)open your eyes on such a one
    and ^(h)bring me into judgment with you?
⁴ Who can bring ⁽ⁱ⁾a clean thing out of an unclean?
    There is not one.
⁵ Since his ^(j)days are determined,
    and ^(k)the number of his months is with you,
    and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,
^6 (l)look away from him and leave him alone,^[a]
    that he may enjoy, like ^(m)a hired hand, his day.

⁷ "For there is hope for a tree,
    if it be cut down, that it will sprout again,
    and that its shoots will not cease.
⁸ Though its root grow old in the earth,
    and ⁽ⁿ⁾its stump die in the soil,
⁹ yet at the scent of water it will bud
    and put out ^(o)branches like a young plant.
¹⁰ But a man dies and is laid low;
    man breathes his last, and ^(p)where is he?
^11 (q)As waters fail from a lake
    and a river wastes away and dries up,
¹² so a man lies down and rises not again;
    till ^(r)the heavens are no more he will not awake
    or be ^(s)roused out of his sleep.
¹³ Oh that you would ^(t)hide me in ^(u)Sheol,
    that you would ^(v)conceal me ^(w)until your wrath be past,
    that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
¹⁴ If a man dies, shall he live again?
    All the days of my ^(x)service I would ^(y)wait,
    till my renewal^[b] should come.
¹⁵ You would ^(z)call, and I would answer you;
    you would long for the ^(aa)work of your hands.
¹⁶ For then you would ^(ab)number my steps;
    you would not keep ^(ac)watch over my sin;
¹⁷ my transgression would be ^(ad)sealed up in a bag,
    and you would cover over my iniquity.

¹⁸ "But the mountain falls and ^(ae)crumbles away,
    and ^(af)the rock is removed from its place;
¹⁹ the waters wear away the stones;
    the torrents wash away the soil of the earth;
    so you destroy the hope of man.
²⁰ You prevail forever against him, and he passes;
    you change his countenance, and send him away.
²¹ His sons come to honor, and he ^(ag)does not know it;
    they are brought low, and he perceives it not.
²² He feels only the pain of his own body,
    and he mourns only for himself."