17 “My spirit has been broken, my days have been extinguished;
The graveyard awaits me.+
2 Mockers surround me,+
And my eye must gaze at their rebellious behavior.
3 Please accept my security, and keep it with you.
Who else will shake hands with me and pledge in my behalf?+
4 For you have concealed discernment from their heart;+
That is why you do not exalt them.
5 He may offer to share with his friends,
While the eyes of his children fail.
6 He has made me an object of scorn among the peoples,+
So that I became one in whose face they spit.+
7 From anguish my eyes grow dim,+
And all my limbs are but a shadow.
8 Upright people stare in amazement at this,
And the innocent one is disturbed over the godless.
9 The righteous one keeps holding fast to his way,+
And the one with clean hands grows stronger.+
10 However, you may all come and resume your arguing,
For I have not found anyone wise among you.+
11 My days are finished;+
My plans, the desires of my heart, have been shattered.+
12 They keep turning night into day,
Saying, ‘Light must be near because it is dark.’
13 If I wait, the Grave will become my home;+
I will spread out my bed in darkness.+
14 I will call out to the pit,+ ‘You are my father!’
To the maggot, ‘My mother and my sister!’
15 Where, then, is my hope?+
Who can see hope for me?
16 It will go down to the barred gates of the Grave
When we all descend together into the dust.”+