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

¹¹ My days are like the evening shadow;^(A)
    I wither^(B) away like grass.

²³ I fade away like an evening shadow;^(A)
    I am shaken off like a locust.

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)

⁹ for we were born only yesterday and know nothing,^(A)
    and our days on earth are but a shadow.^(B)

⁸ “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher.^[a](A)
    “Everything is meaningless!^(B)”