“All those things have vanished
Like a shadow.
They have vanished
Like a rumor that passes by.
They are
Like a ship that sails through the billowy water.
When it has passed
No trace can be found.
There is no track of its keel in the waves.
When a bird flies through the air,
No evidence of its passage is found.
The light air,
Lashed by the beat of its pinions,
Pierced by the force of its rushing flight,
Is traversed
By the movement of its wings.
Afterward no sign of its coming is found there.
When an arrow is shot at a target,
The air,
Thus divided,
Comes together at once.
Thus no one knows its pathway.
So we also,
As soon as we were born,
Ceased to be.
We had no sign of virtue to show.
But we were consumed in our wickedness.”
The ungodly and unjust have disappeared like a shadow. Here now, but gone when the sun stops shining. They are like a rumor that vanishes almost instantaneously. They are like a ship going in the sea. Once it is gone, there is no way to trace its path. The same is true on the bird in the air. Once gone, you are never sure of its precise path. The same goes for an arrow shot in the air. No one can tell its path. However, today we do have technology that can trace ships, birds, and arrows. So what? These unjust ones declared that they ceased to exist the day they were born, because they had no virtue. Thus they were consumed with wickedness.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 