The eye of him who sees me sees me no longer. Your eyes are upon me, and I am no more.
Eyes that saw him do so no more, nor does his place see him any more.
Yet he passed away, and see, he was not; And I sought him, but he was not found.
“When You chastise man for crookedness with reproofs, You consume what he loves, like a moth; All men are but a breath. Selah.
Yet on such a one You open Your eyes, and bring me to right-ruling with Yourself!
and put my feet in the stocks, and look closely to all my paths. You set a limit for the soles of my feet.
If he is destroyed from his place, then it shall deny him: ‘I have not seen you.’
“But now he is dead, why should I fast? Am I able to bring him back again? I am going to him, but he does not return to me.”
For now I would have been lying in peace. I would have slept – then I would have been at rest,
And why do You not pardon my transgression, and take away my crookedness? For now I lie down in the dust, and You shall seek me, but I am not.”
He lies down, a rich man, but he is not gathered. When he opens his eyes, it is no more!
But man dies and is powerless, and man expires, and where is he?
He flies away like a dream, and is not found. And he is driven away like a vision of the night.
For the wind blows over it, and it is no more, And its place no longer remembers it.