[1] My spirit is broken, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me.
[2] Surely there are mockers about me, and my eye dwells on their
provocation. [3] "Lay down a pledge for me with thyself; who is there that
will give surety for me? [4] Since thou hast closed their minds to
understanding, therefore thou wilt not let them triumph. [5] He who informs
against his friends to get a share of their property, the eyes of his
children will fail. [6] "He has made me a byword of the peoples, and I am
one before whom men spit. [7] My eye has grown dim from grief, and all my
members are like a shadow. [8] Upright men are appalled at this, and the
innocent stirs himself up against the godless. [9] Yet the righteous holds
to his way, and he that has clean hands grows stronger and stronger. [10]
But you, come on again, all of you, and I shall not find a wise man among
you. [11] My days are past, my plans are broken off, the desires of my
heart. [12] They make night into day; `he light,' they say, "is near to the
darkness.' [13] If I look for Sheol as my house, if I spread my couch in
darkness, [14] if I say to the pit, `You are my father,' and to the worm,
`My mother,' or `My sister,' [15] where then is my hope? Who will see my
hope? [16] Will it go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together
into the dust?"
