⁵ You have made my days^(A) a mere handbreadth;
    the span of my years is as nothing before you.
Everyone is but a breath,^(B)
    even those who seem secure.^[a]

⁶ “Surely everyone goes around^(A) like a mere phantom;^(B)
    in vain they rush about,^(C) heaping up wealth^(D)
    without knowing whose it will finally be.^(E)

⁹ Surely the lowborn^(A) are but a breath,^(B)
    the highborn are but a lie.
If weighed on a balance,^(C) they are nothing;
    together they are only a breath.

⁴ They are like a breath;^(A)
    their days are like a fleeting shadow.^(B)

⁸ “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher.^[a](A)
    “Everything is meaningless!^(B)”