⁸ “Ask the former generation^(A)
    and find out what their ancestors learned,
⁹ for we were born only yesterday and know nothing,^(B)
    and our days on earth are but a shadow.^(C)
10 Will they not instruct^(D) you and tell you?
    Will they not bring forth words from their understanding?^(E)
11 Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh?^(F)
    Can reeds^(G) thrive without water?
¹² While still growing and uncut,
    they wither more quickly than grass.^(H)
13 Such is the destiny^(I) of all who forget God;^(J)
    so perishes the hope of the godless.^(K)
14 What they trust in is fragile^[a];
    what they rely on is a spider’s web.^(L)
15 They lean on the web,^(M) but it gives way;
    they cling to it, but it does not hold.^(N)
16 They are like a well-watered plant in the sunshine,
    spreading its shoots^(O) over the garden;^(P)
17 it entwines its roots around a pile of rocks
    and looks for a place among the stones.
¹⁸ But when it is torn from its spot,
    that place disowns^(Q) it and says, ‘I never saw you.’^(R)
19 Surely its life withers^(S) away,
    and^[b] from the soil other plants grow.^(T)