¹¹ No one remembers the former generations,^(A)
    and even those yet to come
will not be remembered
    by those who follow them.^(B)

¹⁶ For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered;^(A)
    the days have already come when both have been forgotten.^(B)
Like the fool, the wise too must die!^(C)

⁶ Endless ruin has overtaken my enemies,
    you have uprooted their cities;^(A)
    even the memory of them^(B) has perished.

⁵ For the living know that they will die,
    but the dead know nothing;^(A)
they have no further reward,
    and even their name^(B) is forgotten.^(C)

⁹ See, the former things^(A) have taken place,
    and new things I declare;
before they spring into being
    I announce^(B) them to you.”

²² “Tell us, you idols,
    what is going to happen.^(A)
Tell us what the former things^(B) were,
    so that we may consider them
    and know their final outcome.
Or declare to us the things to come,^(C)
23     tell us what the future holds,
    so we may know^(D) that you are gods.
Do something, whether good or bad,^(E)
    so that we will be dismayed^(F) and filled with fear.
²⁴ But you are less than nothing^(G)
    and your works are utterly worthless;^(H)
    whoever chooses you is detestable.^(I)

²⁵ “I have stirred^(J) up one from the north,^(K) and he comes—
    one from the rising sun who calls on my name.
He treads^(L) on rulers as if they were mortar,
    as if he were a potter treading the clay.
²⁶ Who told of this from the beginning,^(M) so we could know,
    or beforehand, so we could say, ‘He was right’?
No one told of this,
    no one foretold^(N) it,
    no one heard any words^(O) from you.