¹⁰ I said, “In the prime of my life,
    must I now enter the place of the dead?^[a]
    Am I to be robbed of the rest of my years?”
¹¹ I said, “Never again will I see the Lord God
    while still in the land of the living.
Never again will I see my friends
    or be with those who live in this world.
¹² My life has been blown away
    like a shepherd’s tent in a storm.
It has been cut short,
    as when a weaver cuts cloth from a loom.
    Suddenly, my life was over.
¹³ I waited patiently all night,
    but I was torn apart as though by lions.
    Suddenly, my life was over.
¹⁴ Delirious, I chattered like a swallow or a crane,
    and then I moaned like a mourning dove.
My eyes grew tired of looking to heaven for help.
    I am in trouble, Lord. Help me!”

³ For my life is full of troubles,
    and death^[a] draws near.
⁴ I am as good as dead,
    like a strong man with no strength left.
⁵ They have left me among the dead,
    and I lie like a corpse in a grave.
I am forgotten,
    cut off from your care.

¹⁷ My breath is repulsive to my wife.
    I am rejected by my own family.

¹³ What if I go to the grave^[a]
    and make my bed in darkness?
¹⁴ What if I call the grave my father,
    and the maggot my mother or my sister?

¹¹ But I don’t have the strength to endure.
    I have nothing to live for.