[1] "My spirit is spent, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me. [2] Are there not mockers with me? And doth not mine eye continue in their provocation? [3] "Lay it down now, give me a surety with Thee. Who is he that will strike hands with me? [4] For Thou hast hid their heart from understanding; therefore shalt Thou not exalt them. [5] He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail. [6] "He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a drum to beat on. [7] Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow. [8] Upright men shall be astonished at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite. [9] The righteous also shall hold to his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger. [10] "But as for you all, do ye return and come now, for I cannot find one wise man among you. [11] My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart. [12] They change the night into day; the light is short because of darkness. [13] If I wait, the grave is mine house; I have made my bed in the darkness. [14] I have said to corruption, 'Thou art my father'; to the worm, 'Thou art my mother and my sister.' [15] And where is now my hope? As for my hope, who shall see it? [16] It shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust."
