Put the question now to the past generations, and give attention to what has been searched out by their fathers:

See, he goes past me and I see him not: he goes on before, but I have no knowledge of him.

If his days are ordered, and you have knowledge of the number of his months, having given him a fixed limit past which he may not go;

If only you would keep me safe in the underworld, putting me in a secret place till your wrath is past, giving me a fixed time when I might come to your memory again!

My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the desires of my heart.

If only I might again be as I was in the months which are past, in the days when God was watching over me!