¹³ Leave me alone so I can smile again
    before I am gone and exist no more.

¹⁰ “But when people die, their strength is gone.
    They breathe their last, and then where are they?
¹¹ As water evaporates from a lake
    and a river disappears in drought,
¹² people are laid to rest and do not rise again.
    Until the heavens are no more, they will not wake up
    nor be roused from their sleep.

⁵ You have decided the length of our lives.
    You know how many months we will live,
    and we are not given a minute longer.
⁶ So leave us alone and let us rest!
    We are like hired hands, so let us finish our work in peace.

²⁰ I have only a few days left, so leave me alone,
    that I may have a moment of comfort
²¹ before I leave—never to return—
    for the land of darkness and utter gloom.

¹⁹ Why won’t you leave me alone,
    at least long enough for me to swallow!