⁹ Woe to those who strive with their Maker,
    earthen vessels with the potter!^[a]
Does the clay say to the one who fashions it, “What are you making”?
    or “Your work has no handles”?^(A)

⁴ “Lord, let me know my end
    and what is the measure of my days;
    let me know how fleeting my life is.^(A)
5 You have made my days a few handbreadths,
    and my lifetime is as nothing in your sight.
Surely everyone stands as a mere breath. Selah^(B)
6     Surely everyone goes about like a shadow.
Surely for nothing they are in turmoil;
    they heap up and do not know who will gather.^(C)

⁷ “And now, O Lord, what do I wait for?
    My hope is in you.^(D)
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions.
    Do not make me the scorn of the fool.^(E)
9 I am silent; I do not open my mouth,
    for it is you who have done it.^(F)

³ The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
    the God of glory thunders,
    the Lord, over mighty waters.^(A)

¹² “But in this you are not right. I will answer you:
    God is greater than any mortal.
¹³ Why do you contend against him,
    saying, ‘He will answer none of my^[a] words’?^(A)