1My breath is foul, my days are put out, the graves are ready for me.
2Are there not mockers with me? Does my eye not keep looking at their taunting?
3Lay down a pledge now; be my security with yourself. Who else is there who will shake hands with me?
4For you have hidden their heart from understanding. So you will not lift them up.
5The man who speaks flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children will fail.
6He has made me a byword among the people. In the past I was like a tabret.
7My eye is dim because of sorrow, and all my limbs are like a shadow.
8Upright men will be astonished at this, and the innocent will stir himself up against the hypocrite.
9The righteous will hold to his way, and the one with clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.
10But as for you all, come back now, come on: for I cannot find one wise man among you.
11My days are gone, my plans are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.
12They change the night into day. The light, they say, is near when darkness comes.
13If I wait, the grave is my house. I have made my bed in the darkness.
14I have said to decay, "You are my father," and to the worm, "You are my mother and my sister."
15Where then is my hope? As for my hope, who will see it?
16They will go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.