1 "My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished, The grave is [ready] for me.

2 "Surely mockers are with me, And my eye gazes on their provocation.

3 "Lay down, now, a pledge for me with Thyself; Who is there that will be my guarantor ?

4 "For Thou hast kept their heart from understanding; Therefore Thou wilt not exalt [them.]

5 "He who informs against friends for a share [of the spoil,] The eyes of his children also shall languish.

6 "But He has made me a byword of the people, And I am one at whom men spit.

7 "My eye has also grown dim because of grief, And all my members are as a shadow.

8 "The upright shall be appalled at this, And the innocent shall stir up himself against the godless.

9 "Nevertheless the righteous shall hold to his way, And he who has clean hands shall grow stronger and stronger.

10 "But come again all of you now, For I do not find a wise man among you.

11 "My days are past, my plans are torn apart, [Even] the wishes of my heart.

12 "They make night into day, [saying,] 'The light is near,' in the presence of darkness.

13 "If I look for Sheol as my home, I make my bed in the darkness;

14 If I call to the pit, 'You are my father'; To the worm, 'my mother and my sister';

15 Where now is my hope? And who regards my hope?

16 "Will it go down with me to Sheol? Shall we together go down into the dust?"