1My spirit is broken, my days are extinct,

the grave is ready for me.

2Surely 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?

4Since thou hast closed their minds to understanding,

therefore thou wilt not let them triumph.

5He 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.

7My eye has grown dim from grief,

and all my members are like a shadow.

8Upright men are appalled at this,

and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless.

9Yet the righteous holds to his way,

and he that has clean hands grows stronger and stronger.

10But you, come on again, all of you,

and I shall not find a wise man among you.

11My days are past, my plans are broken off,

the desires of my heart.

12They make night into day;

‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’17.12 Heb obscure

13If I look for Sheol as my house,

if I spread my couch in darkness,

14if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’

and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’

15where then is my hope?

Who will see my hope?

16Will it go down to the bars of Sheol?

Shall we descend together into the dust?”