8. "Find out what your people who lived long ago taught. Discover what those who lived before them learned.
9. After all, we were born only yesterday. So we don't know anything. Our days on this earth are like a shadow that disappears.
10. Won't your people of long ago teach you and tell you? Won't the things they said help you understand?
11. Can grass grow tall where there isn't any swamp? Can plants grow well where there isn't any water?
12. While they are still growing and haven't been cut, they dry up faster than grass does.
13. The same thing happens to everyone who forgets God. The hope of ungodly people dies out.
14. What they trust in is very weak. What they depend on is like a spider's web.
15. A person leans on it, but it falls apart. He holds on to it, but it gives way.
16. He is like a plant in the sunshine that receives plenty of water. It spreads its new growth all over the garden.