17 My spirit is broken.
My days are extinguished.
A graveyard^(A) awaits me.
² Surely mockers surround^[a] me,
and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.^(B)

³ Accept my pledge! Put up security for me.^(C)
Who else will be my sponsor?^[b]
4 You have closed their minds to understanding,
therefore you will not honor them.
⁵ If a man denounces his friends for a price,
the eyes of his children will fail.

⁶ He has made me an object of scorn to the people;
I have become a man people spit at.^[c](D)
7 My eyes have grown dim from grief,
and my whole body has become but a shadow.
⁸ The upright are appalled^(E) at this,
and the innocent are roused against the godless.
⁹ Yet the righteous person will hold to his way,
and the one whose hands are clean^(F) will grow stronger.
¹⁰ But come back and try again, all of you.^[d]
I will not find a wise man among you.

¹¹ My days have slipped by;
my plans have been ruined,
even the things dear to my heart.
¹² They turned night into day
and made light seem near in the face of darkness.^(G)
13 If I await Sheol as my home,
spread out my bed in darkness,
¹⁴ and say to corruption, “You are my father,”
and to the maggot, “My mother” or “My sister,”^(H)
15 where then is my hope?^(I)
Who can see any hope for me?
¹⁶ Will it go down to the gates of Sheol,^(J)
or will we descend together to the dust?