Sirach 40:1–10

¹Much labor was created for every man,

and a heavy yoke is upon the sons of Adam,

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

till the day they return to the mother of all.

²Their perplexities and fear of heart—

their anxious thought is the day of death,

³from the man who sits on a splendid throne

to the one who is humbled in dust and ashes,

⁴from the man who wears purple and a crown

to the one who is clothed in burlap;

⁵there 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.

⁶He gets little or no rest,

and afterward in his sleep, as though he were on watch,

he is troubled by the visions of his mind

like one who has escaped from the battle-front;

⁷at the moment of his rescue he wakes up,

and wonders that his fear came to nothing.

⁸With all flesh, both man and beast,

and upon sinners seven times more,

⁹are death and bloodshed and strife and sword,

calamities, famine and affliction and plague.

¹⁰All these were created for the wicked,

and on their account the flood came.