Oratio: You Have Made My Days a Few Handbreadths

⁴ “O Lord, make me know my end
    and what is the measure of my days;
    let me know how fleeting I am!
⁵ Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths,
    and my lifetime is as nothing before you.
Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah
⁶     Surely a man goes about as a shadow!
Surely for nothing^[a] they are in turmoil;
    man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather!

⁷ “And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?
    My hope is in you.

¹² “Hear my prayer, O Lord,
    and give ear to my cry;
    hold not your peace at my tears!
For I am a sojourner with you,
    a guest, like all my fathers.
¹³ Look away from me, that I may smile again,
    before I depart and am no more!”