8 What are human beings,and what use are they?What’s good about them,and what’s evil about them?
9 The length of a person’s lifeis as much as one hundred years.
10 Like a drop of water from the seaor a grain of sand,so are a few years in the span of eternity.
11 Therefore, the Lord was patientwith them,and he poured out his mercy upon them.
12 He saw and knew that their endwas terrible;therefore, his willingness to be reconciled increased.
13 Neighbors display mercytoward each other,but the mercy of the Lord is for all beings:he corrects, instructs, teaches,and turns them back,as a shepherd does his flock.
14 He shows mercy to thosewho accept disciplineand to those who passionately pursuehis judgments.