¹ My spirit is broken, my days finished,
    my burial at hand.
² Surely mockers surround me,
    at their provocation, my eyes grow dim.
³ Put up a pledge for me with you:^[a]
    who is there to give surety for me?
⁴ You darken their minds to knowledge;
    therefore you will not exalt them.
⁵ For a share of property he informs on friends,
    while the eyes of his children grow dim.
⁶ I am made a byword of the people;^(A)
    I am one at whom people spit.
⁷ My eyes are blind with anguish,
    and my whole frame is like a shadow.
⁸ The upright are astonished at this,
    the innocent aroused against the wicked.
⁹ The righteous holds to his way,
    the one with clean hands increases in strength.
¹⁰ But turn now, and come on again;
    I do not find a wise man among you!
¹¹ My days pass by, my plans are at an end,
    the yearning of my heart.
¹² They would change the night into day;
    where there is darkness they talk of approaching light.
^13 [b]If my only hope is dwelling in Sheol,
    and spreading my couch in darkness,
¹⁴ If I am to say to the pit, “You are my father,”
    and to the worm “my mother,” “my sister,”
¹⁵ Where then is my hope,
    my happiness, who can see it?
¹⁶ Will they descend with me into Sheol?
    Shall we go down together into the dust?