also on this one [creature of] futility that decays

have You opened Your eyes to be exact with his sins,

and You bring me into judgment for my iniquities?

Who can bring a clean thing from a putrid drop, and semen, which is unclean? Not one of them is clean, that he should not sin.

If his days are limited If he is requited with this recompense—that his days are limited to a day set for death,

and the number of months is set with You, and [that] You set this boundary—and he will no longer exist in the world, [then] this payment is sufficient for You.

Turn away from him during those few limited days and let him rest from pain until he desires, in his old age and the weakness of his strength, the day of his death like a hireling who desires the completion of his day’s work; for his passing from the world is decided and more definite than all passings.

a tree has This [tree] has hope that it will renew itself

and its bough will not cease from being a branch.

and it will produce a branch Heb. קציר. This is a branch, as (Ps. 80:12), “She sent out her boughs (קצירה) to the sea.”

a sapling Heb. נטע. This is a noun. It is accented on the first syllable, and is punctuated completely with a “kamatz” because it is the end of the verse, but it is derived from נֶטַע, a sapling.

As the waters fail from the sea From the place whence the river comes and emerges, from its source that comes to it from the sea. [Alternative explanation of Rashi: From the place whence the river comes, and they went away from its source (from) which (the water) comes to it.]

and the river that comes from there is drained dry forever. So does a man lie down and not rise.

All the days of my lifespan, I will hope for life.

Call This is a supplication. Call to me and I will answer you to prove my case.

You desire Heb. תִכְסֹף, You desire.

But now You are harming me.

my steps You are counting.

You do not wait Heb. תשמר. You do not wait for my sin to requite me, as (Gen. 37:11), “but his father awaited (שמר) the matter,” and in the language of the Mishnah (Sanh. 63b): “A person may not say to his companion, ‘Wait (שמר) for me beside such and such a pagan deity.’” [It is] an expression of waiting.

sealed up in a bundle Sealed and preserved in a cloth bundle like silver and pearls, lest it be lost.

and You have attached Yourself to my iniquity Heb. ותטפל, You have attached Yourself to my iniquity.

And surely the falling mountain gives forth produce The height of a falling mountain will give forth produce. It will produce dust, and there will be hope of deriving benefit from it. and the rock that moves from its place will also give forth produce. This is an expression of grain.

Stones which the water eroded by constantly passing over them.

it washes away i.e., the flood. its aftergrowth of the stone, to be transformed into dust so that something should grow in it. As the aftergrowths of the harvest grow, so will the aftergrowths of this earth be transformed to stone.

but the hope of man is not so, because as soon as he dies, it is lost forever.

You overpower him You are stronger than he; You overcome him with Your power, and he goes away from the world.

become wealthy Heb. יכבדו, lit. they will become heavy. They will become heavy with silver and gold, but he will not know.

and they become poor And they have little of any good, but he will not understand it.

But his flesh causes him pain A worm is as painful to the dead as a needle in the flesh of the living.