6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to
inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.
7 “Be
strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses
gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be
successful wherever you go.8 Keep
this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that
you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous
and successful.9 Have I not commanded
you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the
Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
“Mortals,
born of woman,
are of few days and full of trouble. 2 They spring up like flowers and wither away;
like fleeting shadows, they do not endure. 3 Do you fix your eye on them?
Will you bring them[a] before you
for judgment? 4 Who can bring what is pure from the impure?
No one! 5 A person’s days are determined;
you have decreed the number of his months
and have set limits he cannot exceed. 6 So look away from him and let him alone,
till he has put in his time like a hired laborer.
7 “At
least there is hope for a tree:
If it is cut down, it will sprout again,
and its new shoots will not fail. 8 Its roots may grow old in the ground
and its stump die in the soil, 9 yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put forth shoots like a plant. 10 But a man dies and is laid low;
he breathes his last and is no more. 11 As the water of a lake dries up
or a riverbed becomes parched and dry, 12 so he lies down and does not rise;
till the heavens are no more, people will not awake
or be roused from their sleep.
13 “If
only you would hide me in the grave
and conceal me till your anger has passed!
If only you would set me a time
and then remember me! 14 If someone dies, will they live again?
All the days of my hard service
I will wait for my renewal[b] to come. 15 You will call and I will answer you;
you will long for the creature your hands have made. 16 Surely then you will count my steps
but not keep track of my sin. 17 My offenses will be sealed up in a bag;
you will cover over my sin.
18 “But
as a mountain erodes and crumbles
and as a rock is moved from its place, 19 as water wears away stones
and torrents wash away the soil,
so you destroy a person’s hope. 20 You overpower them once for all, and they are gone;
you change their countenance and send them away. 21 If their children are honored, they do not know it;
if their offspring are brought low, they do not see it. 22 They feel but the pain of their own bodies
and mourn only for themselves.”
