You Are My Refuge
A Maskil1 of David, when he was in kthe cave. A Prayer.
1 With my voice I lcry out to the Lord;
with my voice I mplead for mercy to the Lord.
2 I npour out my complaint before him;
I tell my trouble before him.
3 When my spirit ofaints within me,
you know my way!
In the path where I walk
they have phidden a trap for me.
4 qLook to the rright and see:
sthere is none who takes notice of me;
tno refuge remains to me;
no one cares for my soul.
5 I cry to you, O Lord;
I say, “You are my urefuge,
my vportion in wthe land of the living.”
6 xAttend to my cry,
for yI am brought very low!
Deliver me from my persecutors,
zfor they are too strong for me!
7 aBring me out of prison,
that I may give thanks to your name!
The righteous will surround me,
for you will bdeal bountifully with me.
1 nThere is an evil that I have seen under the sun, and it lies heavy on mankind: 2 a man oto whom pGod gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that he qlacks nothing of all that he desires, yet God rdoes not give him power to enjoy them, but a stranger enjoys them. This is vanity;1 it is a grievous evil. 3 If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, so that sthe days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with life’s tgood things, and he also has no uburial, I say that va stillborn child is better off than he. 4 For it comes in vanity and goes in darkness, and in darkness its name is covered. 5 Moreover, it has not wseen the sun or known anything, yet it finds xrest rather than he. 6 Even though he should live a thousand years twice over, yet enjoy2 no good—do not all go to the one place?
7 yAll the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied.3 8 For what advantage has the wise man zover the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living? 9 Better ais the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is bvanity and a striving after wind.
10 Whatever has come to be has calready been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to ddispute with one stronger than he. 11 The more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man? 12 For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his evain4 life, which he passes like fa shadow? For who can tell man what will be gafter him under the sun?
