Read the Bible

^1 (a)We are all born weak and helpless.
    All lead the same short, troubled life.
² We grow and wither as quickly as flowers;
    we disappear like shadows.
³ Will you even look at me, God,
    or put me on trial and judge me?
⁴ Nothing clean can ever come
    from anything as unclean as human beings.
⁵ The length of our lives is decided beforehand—
    the number of months we will live.
You have settled it, and it can't be changed.
⁶ Look away from us and leave us alone;^[a]
    let us enjoy our hard life—if we can.^[b]

⁷ There is hope for a tree that has been cut down;
    it can come back to life and sprout.
⁸ Even though its roots grow old,
    and its stump dies in the ground,
⁹     with water it will sprout like a young plant.
¹⁰ But we die, and that is the end of us;
    we die, and where are we then?

¹¹ Like rivers that stop running,
    and lakes that go dry,
¹²     people die, never to rise.
They will never wake up while the sky endures;
    they will never stir from their sleep.

¹³ I wish you would hide me in the world of the dead;
    let me be hidden until your anger is over,
    and then set a time to remember me.
¹⁴ If a man dies, can he come back to life?
But I will wait for better times,
    wait till this time of trouble is ended.
¹⁵ Then you will call, and I will answer,
    and you will be pleased with me, your creature.
¹⁶ Then you will watch every step I take,
    but you will not keep track of my sins.
¹⁷ You will forgive them and put them away;
    you will wipe out all the wrongs I have done.

¹⁸ There comes a time when mountains fall
    and solid cliffs are moved away.
¹⁹ Water will wear down rocks,
    and heavy rain will wash away the soil;
    so you destroy our hope for life.
²⁰ You overpower us and send us away forever;
    our faces are twisted in death.
²¹ Our children win honor, but we never know it,
    nor are we told when they are disgraced.
²² We feel only the pain of our own bodies
    and the grief of our own minds.