“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

13 “If only you would hide me in the gravev

and conceal me till your anger has passed!w

If only you would set me a time

and then rememberx me!y

14 If someone dies, will they live again?

All the days of my hard servicez

I will wait for my renewalb a to come.