1 “ My spirit is broken, My days are extinguished, The grave is ready for me.

2 A re not mockers with me? And does not my eye dwell on their provocation?

3 “ Now put down a pledge for me with Yourself. Who is he who will shake hands with me?

4 F or You have hidden their heart from understanding; Therefore You will not exalt them.

5 H e who speaks flattery to his friends, Even the eyes of his children will fail.

6 “ But He has made me a byword of the people, And I have become one in whose face men spit.

7 M y eye has also grown dim because of sorrow, And all my members are like shadows.

8 U pright men are astonished at this, And the innocent stirs himself up against the hypocrite.

9 Y et the righteous will hold to his way, And he who has clean hands will be stronger and stronger.

10 “ But please, come back again, all of you, For I shall not find one wise man among you.

11 M y days are past, My purposes are broken off, Even the thoughts of my heart.

12 T hey change the night into day; ‘The light is near,’ they say, in the face of darkness.

13 I f I wait for the grave as my house, If I make my bed in the darkness,

14 I f I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ And to the worm, ‘You are my mother and my sister,’

15 W here then is my hope? As for my hope, who can see it?

16 W ill they go down to the gates of Sheol? Shall we have rest together in the dust?”