“Mortals, born of woman,s

are of few dayst and full of trouble.u

2 They spring up like flowersv and wither away;w

like fleeting shadows,x they do not endure.y

3 Do you fix your eye on them?z

Will you bring thema before you for judgment?a

4 Who can bring what is pureb from the impure?c

No one!d

5 A person’s days are determined;e

you have decreed the number of his monthsf

and have set limits he cannot exceed.g

6 So look away from him and let him alone,h

till he has put in his time like a hired laborer.i

7 “At least there is hope for a tree:j

If it is cut down, it will sprout again,

and its new shootsk will not fail.l

8 Its roots may grow old in the ground

and its stumpm die in the soil,

9 yet at the scent of watern it will bud

and put forth shoots like a plant.o

10 But a man dies and is laid low;p

he breathes his last and is no more.q

11 As the water of a lake dries up

or a riverbed becomes parched and dry,r

12 so he lies down and does not rise;s

till the heavens are no more,t people will not awake

or be roused from their sleep.u