You know, O LORD, that we pass through life like exiles and strangers, as our ancestors did. Our days are like a passing shadow, and we cannot escape death.

Hear my prayer, LORD, and listen to my cry; come to my aid when I weep. Like all my ancestors I am only your guest for a little while.

I am here on earth for just a little while; do not hide your commands from me.

During my brief earthly life I compose songs about your commands.

So we are always full of courage. We know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord's home.

By faith he lived as a foreigner in the country that God had promised him. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who received the same promise from God.

It was faith that made Abraham able to become a father, even though he was too old and Sarah herself could not have children. He trusted God to keep his promise.

It was in faith that all these persons died. They did not receive the things God had promised, but from a long way off they saw them and welcomed them, and admitted openly that they were foreigners and refugees on earth.

They did not keep thinking about the country they had left; if they had, they would have had the chance to return.

For there is no permanent city for us here on earth; we are looking for the city which is to come.

I appeal to you, my friends, as strangers and refugees in this world! Do not give in to bodily passions, which are always at war against the soul.

We are all born weak and helpless. All lead the same short, troubled life.

How short you have made my life! In your sight my lifetime seems nothing. Indeed every living being is no more than a puff of wind,

Remember how short my life is; remember that you created all of us mortal!

Who can live and never die? How can we humans keep ourselves from the grave?

You tell us to return to what we were; you change us back to dust.

You carry us away like a flood; we last no longer than a dream. We are like weeds that sprout in the morning,

We are destroyed by your anger; we are terrified by your fury.

Our life is cut short by your anger; it fades away like a whisper.

Who has felt the full power of your anger? Who knows what fear your fury can bring?

You don't even know what your life tomorrow will be! You are like a puff of smoke, which appears for a moment and then disappears.

Jacob lived in Egypt seventeen years, until he was a hundred and forty-seven years old.

and died at the age of 969.

After that, he lived another 500 years and had other children.

When Nahor was 29 years old, he had a son, Terah;

after that, he lived another 119 years and had other children.

Abraham died at the ripe old age of 175.

(SEE 25:7)

Isaac lived to be a hundred and eighty years old

So Joseph died in Egypt at the age of a hundred and ten. They embalmed his body and put it in a coffin.

I also made my covenant with them, promising to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they had lived as foreigners.

At the time when they spoke to the king, Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron was eighty-three.

Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died; he was as strong as ever, and his eyesight was still good.

After that, the LORD's servant Joshua son of Nun died at the age of a hundred and ten.

Barzillai was a very old man, eighty years old. He was very rich and had supplied the king with food while he was staying at Mahanaim.

But Barzillai answered, "I don't have long to live; why should I go with Your Majesty to Jerusalem?

Look for a moment at ancient wisdom; consider the truths our ancestors learned.

Our life is short, we know nothing at all; we pass like shadows across the earth.

Job lived a hundred and forty years after this, long enough to see his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

And then he died at a very great age.