1The end of my life is near. I can hardly breathe;

there is nothing left for me but the grave.

2I watch how bitterly everyone mocks me.

3I am being honest, God. Accept my word.

There is no one else to support what I say.

4You have closed their minds to reason;

don't let them triumph over me now.

5In the old proverb someone betrays his friends for money,

and his children suffer for it.17.5 someone… suffer for it; or someone entertains his friends while his children go hungry.

6And now people use this proverb against me;

they come and spit in my face.

7My grief has almost made me blind;

my arms and legs are as thin as shadows.

8Those who claim to be honest are shocked,

and they all condemn me as godless.

9Those who claim to be respectable

are more and more convinced they are right.

10But if all of them came and stood before me,

I would not find even one of them wise.

11My days have passed; my plans have failed;

my hope is gone.

12But my friends say night is daylight;

they say that light is near,

but I know I remain in darkness.

13My only hope is the world of the dead,

where I will lie down to sleep in the dark.

14I will call the grave my father,

and the worms that eat me

I will call my mother and my sisters.

15Where is there any hope for me?

Who sees any?

16Hope will not go with me17.16 One ancient translation with me; Hebrew unclear.

when I go down to the world of the dead.