Listen to this, all of you; Lean in, everyone living in the world, Low and high, rich and poor, all together. My mouth is going to say something wise, And what I have been turning over is worth understanding. I will bend my ear to a saying And open the dark part of it on the harp. Why should I be afraid when the days go bad, When the wrong at my heels closes round me? They put their trust in what they own And boast about how much of it there is. Not one of them can buy a brother back Or hand God a ransom for him. Buying a life costs too much; Nobody ever finishes paying, So that a man could keep living and never see the grave. Because he sees it: wise men die, And so do fools, and so do the stupid, And they leave what they had to somebody else. Inside they think their houses will stand for ever, Their places to every generation, And they put their own names on their land. But a man with standing does not stay; He is no different from an animal that dies. God will buy my life back out of the grip of the grave, Because He will take me to Himself. Do not be afraid when someone gets rich, When the weight of his house keeps growing. He carries nothing off when he dies; None of that weight goes down after him. While he lived he told himself he was doing well, And people praise a man who does well for himself. He will go where his fathers went, And they will never see the light. A man with standing who never understood it Is no different from an animal that dies.