My days are past; my plans are broken off, the desires of my heart.
My spirit is broken; my days are extinct; the graveyard is ready for me.
They make night into day; 'The light,' they say, 'is near to the darkness.'[1]
My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle and come to their end without hope.
The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.
The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.
Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might,[2] for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.
I said, In the middle[4] of my days I must depart; I am consigned to the gates of Sheol for the rest of my years.
Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us.[5]
Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it?
I want you to know, brothers,[2] that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles.