8 “Please aask of past generations,
And establish the things searched out by their fathers.
9 For we are only of yesterday and know nothing,
Because aour days on earth are but a shadow.
10 Will they not instruct you and tell you,
And bring forth words from their hearts?
11 “Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh?
Can the rushes grow without water?
12 While it is still green and not cut down,
Yet it dries up before any other plant.
13 So are the paths of aall who forget God;
And the bhope of the godless will perish,
14 Whose confidence is fragile,
And whose trust a aspider’s web.
15 He relies on his ahouse, but it does not stand;
He holds fast to it, but it is not established.
16 He athrives before the sun,
And his bshoots go forth over his garden.
17 His roots wrap around a rock pile;
He looks upon a house of stones.
18 If He swallows him up from ahis place,
Then it will deny him, saying, ‘bI never saw you.’
19 Behold, athis is the joy of His way;
And out of the dust others will spring.