Jacob answered, "My life of wandering has lasted a hundred and thirty years. Those years have been few and difficult, unlike the long years of my ancestors in their wanderings."

Hear my prayer, LORD, and listen to my cry; come to my aid when I weep. Like all my ancestors I am only your guest for a little while.

I am here on earth for just a little while; do not hide your commands from me.

It was in faith that all these persons died. They did not receive the things God had promised, but from a long way off they saw them and welcomed them, and admitted openly that they were foreigners and refugees on earth.

They did not keep thinking about the country they had left; if they had, they would have had the chance to return.

I appeal to you, my friends, as strangers and refugees in this world! Do not give in to bodily passions, which are always at war against the soul.

We grow and wither as quickly as flowers; we disappear like shadows.

Our life is cut short by your anger; it fades away like a whisper.

My life is like the evening shadows; I am like dry grass.

We are like a puff of wind; our days are like a passing shadow.

How can anyone know what is best for us in this short, useless life of ours---a life that passes like a shadow? How can we know what will happen in the world after we die?

A voice cries out, "Proclaim a message!" "What message shall I proclaim?" I ask. "Proclaim that all human beings are like grass; they last no longer than wild flowers.

Yes, grass withers and flowers fade, but the word of our God endures forever."

You don't even know what your life tomorrow will be! You are like a puff of smoke, which appears for a moment and then disappears.