² They spring up like flowers^(A) and wither away;^(B)
    like fleeting shadows,^(C) they do not endure.^(D)

²⁴ I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;^(A)
    therefore I will wait for him.”

²⁵ The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
    to the one who seeks him;^(B)
26 it is good to wait quietly^(C)
    for the salvation of the Lord.^(D)
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke
    while he is young.

⁷ Since no one knows the future,
    who can tell someone else what is to come?

⁴ They are like a breath;^(A)
    their days are like a fleeting shadow.^(B)

⁵ You have made my days^(A) a mere handbreadth;
    the span of my years is as nothing before you.
Everyone is but a breath,^(B)
    even those who seem secure.^[a]

⁶ “Surely everyone goes around^(C) like a mere phantom;^(D)
    in vain they rush about,^(E) heaping up wealth^(F)
    without knowing whose it will finally be.^(G)