“Bring a plan, make a decision! ¹  Provide some shade in the middle of the day! ²  Hide the fugitives! Do not betray ³  the one who tries to escape!

But Pharaoh’s protection will bring you nothing but shame, and the safety of Egypt’s protective shade nothing but humiliation.

Under the lotus trees it lies, in the secrecy of the reeds and the marsh.

For her house ¹  sinks ²  down to death, and her paths lead ³  to the place of the departed spirits. ⁴ 

People will reside again ¹  in his shade; they will plant and harvest grain in abundance. ²  They will blossom like a vine, and his fame will be like the wine from Lebanon.

Foreigners from the most terrifying nations have cut it down and left it to lie there on the mountains. In all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs lie broken in the ravines of the land. All the peoples of the land ¹  have departed ²  from its shade and left it.

Do you accomplish amazing things for the dead? Do the departed spirits ¹  rise up and give you thanks? (Selah)

Sheol ¹  below is stirred up about you, ready to meet you when you arrive. It rouses ²  the spirits of the dead for you, all the former leaders of the earth; ³  it makes all the former kings of the nations rise from their thrones. ⁴ 

They travel down to Egypt without seeking my will, ¹  seeking Pharaoh’s protection, and looking for safety in Egypt’s protective shade. ² 

When the water in the skin was gone, she shoved ¹  the child under one of the shrubs.

People ¹  are like a vapor, their days like a shadow that disappears. ² 

The one who wanders ¹  from the way of wisdom ²  will end up ³  in the company of the departed. ⁴ 

the cedars are the beams of our bedroom chamber; the pines are the rafters of our bedroom.

The dead do not come back to life, the spirits of the dead do not rise. ¹  That is because ²  you came in judgment ³  and destroyed them, you wiped out all memory of them.

Owls ¹  will make nests and lay eggs ²  there; they will hatch them and protect them. ³  Yes, hawks ⁴  will gather there, each with its mate.

Let a little water be brought so that ¹  you may all ²  wash your feet and rest under the tree.

For we were born yesterday ¹  and do not have knowledge, since our days on earth are but a shadow. ² 

He reveals the deep things of darkness, and brings deep shadows ¹  into the light.

He grows up ¹  like a flower and then withers away; ²  he flees like a shadow, and does not remain. ³ 

My eyes have grown dim ¹  with grief; my whole frame ²  is but a shadow.