9 Lowborn men are but a vapor, the exalted but a lie. Weighed on the scale, they go up; together they are but a vapor.
Psalms 62:9
Semantically similar passages
Sirach 17:31–32
31 What is brighter than the sun? Yet even this can be eclipsed. So flesh and blood devise evil. (WEB) 32 He looks upon the power of the height of heaven, while all men are earth and ashes. (WEB)
Isaiah 2:21–22
21 They will flee to caverns in the rocks and crevices in the cliffs, away from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth. 22 Put no more trust in man, who has only the breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?
Sirach 20:10–12
10 There is a gift that will not profit you; and there is a gift that pays back double. (WEB) 11 There are losses because of glory; and there is one who has lifted up his head from a low estate. (WEB) 12 There is one who buys much for a little, and pays for it again sevenfold. (WEB)
Sirach 13:22–24
22 When a rich man falls, there are many helpers. He speaks things not to be spoken, and men justify him. A humble man falls, and men rebuke him. He utters wisdom, and is not listened to. (WEB) 23 A rich man speaks, and all keep silence. They extol what he says to the clo… (WEB)
2 Baruch 14:9–10
9 Or who will be able to think out Thy incomprehensible counsel? Or who of those that are born has ever found The beginning or end of Thy wisdom? (2BA) 10 For we have all been made like a breath. For as the breath ascends involuntarily, and again dies, so it is with the… (2BA)
2 Baruch 44:10–11
10 For that which runs now runs unto vanity, And that which prospers shall quickly fall and be humiliated. (2BA) 11 For that which is to be shall be the object of desire, And for that which comes afterwards shall we hope; For it is a time that passes not away, (2BA)
Ecclesiastes 10:5–7
5 There is an evil I have seen under the sun— an error that proceeds from the ruler: 6 Folly is appointed to great heights, but the rich sit in lowly positions. 7 I have seen slaves on horseback, while princes go on foot like slaves.
Psalms 39:5–7
5 You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah 6 Surely every man goes about like a phantom; surely he bustles in vain; he heaps up riches not knowing who will haul… 7 …
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