17
1 “My
spirit is consumed.
My days are
extinct
and the grave
is ready for me.
2 Surely
there are mockers
with me.
My eye dwells on
their provocation.
3 “Now
give a pledge. Be
collateral for me
with yourself.
Who is there who
will strike hands
with me?
4 For
you have hidden
their heart from
understanding,
therefore you
will not exalt
them.
5 He
who denounces his
friends for plunder,
even the eyes
of his children
will fail.
6 “But
he has made
me a byword
of the people.
They spit in
my face.
7 My
eye also is
dim by reason of
sorrow.
All my members
are as a
shadow.
8 Upright men
will be astonished
at this.
The innocent will
stir himself up
against the
godless.
9 Yet
the righteous
will hold to his
way.
He who has
clean hands will
grow stronger and stronger.
10 But
as for you
all, come back.
I will not
find a wise
man among you.
11 My
days are past.
My plans are
broken off,
as are the
thoughts of my
heart.
12 They
change the night
into day,
saying ‘The light
is near’ in
the presence of
darkness.
13 If I
look for Sheol
as my house,
if I have spread
my couch in
the darkness,
14 if I have
said to corruption,
‘You are
my father,’
and to the
worm, ‘My mother,’
and ‘My sister,’
15 where then
is my hope?
As for my hope,
who will see it?
16 Shall
it go down
with me to
the gates of
Sheol,
or descend together
into the dust?”