¹⁴ For he knows how weak we are;
    he remembers we are only dust.

¹⁹ By the sweat of your brow
    will you have food to eat
until you return to the ground
    from which you were made.
For you were made from dust,
    and to dust you will return.”

⁹ Remember that you made me from dust—
    will you turn me back to dust so soon?

⁴⁷ Remember how short my life is,
    how empty and futile this human existence!

³⁸ Yet he was merciful and forgave their sins
    and did not destroy them all.
Many times he held back his anger
    and did not unleash his fury!
³⁹ For he remembered that they were merely mortal,
    gone like a breath of wind that never returns.

¹⁶ How foolish can you be?
    He is the Potter, and he is certainly greater than you, the clay!
Should the created thing say of the one who made it,
    “He didn’t make me”?
Does a jar ever say,
    “The potter who made me is stupid”?

²¹ Why not just forgive my sin
    and take away my guilt?
For soon I will lie down in the dust and die.
    When you look for me, I will be gone.”

⁵ My body is covered with maggots and scabs.
    My skin breaks open, oozing with pus.