Let the enemy pursue me and overtake me;
And let him trample my life to the ground
And lay my honor in the dust. Selah.

Then I beat them fine as the dust before the wind;
I emptied them out as the dirt of the streets.

My strength is dried up like a fragment of clay pottery;
And my [dry] tongue clings to my jaws;
And You have laid me in the dust of death.

All the prosperous of the earth will eat and worship;
All those who go down to the dust (the dead) will bow before Him,
Even he who cannot keep his soul alive.

“What profit is there in my blood (death), if I go down to the pit (grave)?
Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your faithfulness [to man]?

For our life has melted away into the dust;
Our body clings to the ground.

The nomads of the desert will bow before him,
And his enemies will lick the dust.

He rained meat upon them like the dust,
And winged birds (quail) like the sand of the seas.

O my God, make them like whirling dust,
Like chaff before the wind [worthless and without substance].

You turn man back to dust,
And say, “Return [to the earth], O children of [mortal] men!”

For Your servants find [melancholy] pleasure in the stones [of her ruins]
And feel pity for her dust.

For He knows our [mortal] frame;
He remembers that we are [merely] dust.

You hide Your face, they are dismayed;
You take away their breath, they die
And return to their dust.

He raises the poor out of the dust
And lifts the needy from the ash heap,

Daleth.
My earthly life clings to the dust;
Revive and refresh me according to Your word.