⁷ If someone cuts down a tree,
    the tree may not die.
    New branches may grow from it.
⁸ Its roots in the ground may be old.
    The part of the tree that remains may be nearly dead.
⁹ But if only a little water comes near to it,
    it will start to grow again.
It will make new branches,
    like a young plant.
¹⁰ But when people lose their strength and they die,
    that is the end.
    After they die, where do they go?
¹¹ When the water disappears from a lake or a river,
    they become dry.
¹² It is the same with people when they die.
    They will never rise to live again.
As long as the sky remains above the earth,
    they will continue to sleep in death.

¹³ Please hide me in the place where dead people go!
    Hide me there until you are no longer angry.
Decide how long I must be there,
    and then remember me again!
¹⁴ If a man dies, will he live again?
    If I knew that, I would suffer patiently.
    I would wait until my troubles have finished.
¹⁵ You would call me and I would answer you.
You would want to see me again,
    because your own hands created me.
¹⁶ You would watch me carefully,
    but you would not make a note of my sins.
¹⁷ You would forgive me for my sins.
    You would hide them away.

¹⁸ But mountains fall down and they break into pieces,
    Rocks fall down from their places.
¹⁹ Stones become sand when water pours over them.
    Floods wash away soil.
In the same way, you remove hope from a person's life.
²⁰ Finally, you bring his life to an end.
    He leaves this world.
You change his face in death
    and you send him away.
²¹ If his sons become famous,
    he does not know about it.
If they become ashamed,
    he does not know that either.
²² A dead person thinks only about himself.
    He feels his own pain and he is very sad.’