40 ¹ Much labour was created for every man,
and a heavy yoke is upon the sons of Adam,
from the day they come forth from their mother's womb
till the day they return to the mother of all.
40 ² Their perplexities and fear of heart -
their anxious thought is the day of death,
40 ³ from the man who sits on a splendid throne
to the one who is humbled in dust and ashes,
40 ⁴ from the man who wears purple and a crown
to the one who is clothed in burlap;
40 ⁵ there is anger and envy and trouble and unrest,
and fear of death, and fury and strife.
And when one rests upon his bed,
his sleep at night confuses his mind.
40 ⁶ He gets little or no rest,
and afterward in his sleep, as though he were on watch,
he is troubled by the visions of his mind
like one who has escaped from the battle-front;
40 ⁷ at the moment of his rescue he wakes up,
and wonders that his fear came to nothing.
40 ⁸ With all flesh, both man and beast,
and upon sinners seven times more,
40 ⁹ are death and bloodshed and strife and sword, calamities,
famine and affliction and plague.
40 ¹⁰ All these were created for the wicked,
and on their account the flood came.
40 ¹¹ All things that are from the earth turn back to the earth,
and what is from the waters returns to the sea.