Human Wretchedness

40 Hard work was created for everyone,

and a heavy yoke is laid on the children of Adam,

from the day they come forth from their mother’s womb

until the day they return toa the mother of all the living.b

2 Perplexities and fear of heart are theirs,

and anxious thought of the day of their death.

3 From the one who sits on a splendid throne

to the one who grovels in dust and ashes,

4 from the one who wears purple and a crown

to the one who is clothed in burlap,

5 there is anger and envy and trouble and unrest,

and fear of death, and fury and strife.

And when one rests upon his bed,

his sleep at night confuses his mind.

6 He gets little or no rest;

he struggles in his sleep as he did by day.c

He is troubled by the visions of his mind

like one who has escaped from the battlefield.

7 At the moment he reaches safety he wakes up,

astonished that his fears were groundless.

8 To all creatures, human and animal,

but to sinners seven times more,

9 come death and bloodshed and strife and sword,

calamities and famine and ruin and plague.

10 All these were created for the wicked,

and on their account the flood came.

11 All that is of earth returns to earth,

and what is from above returns above.d