17 My spirit is broken.

My days are extinguished.

A graveyard r awaits me.

2 Surely mockers surround s me

and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion. t

3 Make arrangements! Put up security for me. u v

Who else will be my sponsor? w

4 You have closed their minds to understanding,

therefore You will not honor them.

5 If a man informs on 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. x y

7 My eyes have grown dim from grief,

and my whole body has become but a shadow.

8 The upright are appalled z 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 a will grow stronger.

10 But come back and try again, all of you. b

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. c

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, d

15 where then is my hope? e

Who can see any hope for me?

16 Will it go down to the gates of Sheol, f

or will we descend together to the dust?