5
If you would earnestly seek God And make your supplication to the Almighty,
6
If you were pure and upright, Surely now He would awake for you, And prosper your rightful dwelling place.
7
Though your beginning was small, Yet your latter end would increase abundantly.
8
"For inquire, please, of the former age, And consider the things discovered by their fathers;
9
For we were born yesterday, and know nothing, Because our days on earth are a shadow.
10
Will they not teach you and tell you, And utter words from their heart?
11
"Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh? Can the reeds flourish without water?
12
While it is yet green and not cut down, It withers before any other plant.
13
So are the paths of all who forget God; And the hope of the hypocrite shall perish,
14
Whose confidence shall be cut off, And whose trust is a spider's web.
15
He leans on his house, but it does not stand. He holds it fast, but it does not endure.