^1. «MY spirit is broken, my days are extinguished, The [1] grave is ready for me.

^2. « Surely mockers are with me, And my eye [2] gazes on their provocation.

^3. «Lay down, now, a pledge for me with Yourself; Who is there that will [3] be my guarantor?

^4. «For You have [4] kept their heart from understanding, Therefore You will not exalt them.

^5. «He who informs against friends for a share of the spoil, The eyes of his children also will languish.

^6. «But He has made me a byword of the people, And I am [5] one at whom men spit.

^7. «My eye has also grown dim because of grief, And all my members are as a shadow.

^8. «The upright will be appalled at this, And the innocent will stir up himself against the godless.

^9. «Nevertheless the righteous will hold to his way, And he who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.

^10. «But come again all of [6] you now, For I do not find a wise man among you.

^11. «My days are past, my plans are torn apart, Even the wishes of my heart.

^12. «They make night into day, saying, "The light is near,' in the presence of darkness.

^13. «If I look for Sheol as my home, I [7] make my bed in the darkness;

^14. If I call to the pit, "You are my father'; To the worm, "my mother and my sister';

^15. Where now is my hope? And who regards my hope?

^16. « [8] Will it go down with me to Sheol? Shall we together go down into the dust?»