My days pass by without hope, pass faster than a weaver's shuttle.

Remember, O God, my life is only a breath; my happiness has already ended.

At the king's command the riders mounted royal horses and rode off at top speed. The decree was also made public in Susa, the capital city.

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,

You punish our sins by your rebukes, and like a moth you destroy what we love. Indeed we are no more than a puff of wind!

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

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

Seventy years is all we have--- eighty years, if we are strong; yet all they bring us is trouble and sorrow; life is soon over, and we are gone.

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.