7
“At least there is hope for a tree:
If it is cut down, it will sprout again,
and its new shoots will not fail.
8
Its roots may grow old in the ground
and its stump die in the soil,
9
yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put forth shoots like a plant.
10
But man dies and is laid low;
he breathes his last and is no more.
11
As water disappears from the sea
or a riverbed becomes parched and dry,
12
so man lies down and does not rise;
till the heavens are no more, men will not awake
or be roused from their sleep.