[1] "My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished, the grave is ready for me. [2] Are 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] For You have hidden their heart from understanding. Therefore will You not exalt them. [5] He who speaks flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children will fail. [6] "And He has made me a byword of the people, someone in whose face they spit. [7] My eye also is dim because of sorrow, and all my members are like a shadow. [8] Upright men will be astonished at this, and the innocent will stir up himself against the hypocrite. [9] The righteous also will hold to his way, and he who has clean hands will be stronger and stronger. [10] "But as for you all, 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 my house; I have made my bed in the darkness. [14] I have said to the pit, 'You are my father'; to the worm, 'You are my mother and my sister.' [15] Where now is my hope? As for my hope, who will see it? [16] Will they go down to the gates of Sheol? Will we descend together in the dust?"
