Another lament

¹My spirit is broken,

my days extinguished,

the grave, mine.

²Surely mockers are with me,

and my eye looks on their rebellion.

³Take my guarantee.

Who else is willing to make an agreement?

⁴You’ve closed their mind to insight;

therefore, you won’t be exalted.

⁵He denounces his friends for gain,

and his children’s eyes fail.

⁶He makes me a popular proverb;

I’m like spit in people’s faces.

⁷My eye is weak from grief;

my limbs like a shadow—all of them.

⁸Those who do the right thing are amazed at this;

the guiltless become troubled about the godless.

⁹The innocent clings to his way;

the one whose hands are clean grows stronger.

¹⁰But you can bring all of them again,

and I won’t find a wise one among you.

¹¹My days have passed;

my goals are destroyed, my heart’s desires.

¹²They turn night into day;

light is near because of the darkness.

¹³If I hope for the underworld as my dwelling,[#17.13 Heb Sheol]

lay out my bed in darkness,

¹⁴I’ve called corruption “my father,”

the worm, “my mother and sister.”

¹⁵Where then is my hope?

¹⁶Will they go down with me to the underworld;[#17.16 Heb Sheol]

will we descend together to the dust?