7. Your beginnings will seem humble, so prosperous will your future be.
8. “Ask the former generation and find out what their ancestors learned,
9. for we were born only yesterday and know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow.
10. Will they not instruct you and tell you? Will they not bring forth words from their understanding?
11. Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh? Can reeds thrive without water?
12. While still growing and uncut, they wither more quickly than grass.
13. Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so perishes the hope of the godless.
14. What they trust in is fragile ; what they rely on is a spider’s web.