³ You turn people back to dust,
    saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.”^(E)
4 A thousand years in your sight
    are like a day that has just gone by,
    or like a watch in the night.^(F)
5 Yet you sweep people away^(G) in the sleep of death—
    they are like the new grass of the morning:
⁶ In the morning it springs up new,
    but by evening it is dry and withered.^(H)

⁷ We are consumed by your anger
    and terrified by your indignation.
⁸ You have set our iniquities before you,
    our secret sins^(I) in the light of your presence.^(J)
9 All our days pass away under your wrath;
    we finish our years with a moan.^(K)
10 Our days may come to seventy years,^(L)
    or eighty,^(M) if our strength endures;
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,^(N)
    for they quickly pass, and we fly away.^(O)
11 If only we knew the power of your anger!
    Your wrath^(P) is as great as the fear that is your due.^(Q)
12 Teach us to number our days,^(R)
    that we may gain a heart of wisdom.^(S)