Aa
1My spirit is broken.
My days are extinguished.
A graveyard Jb 3:22; 5:26; 10:19 awaits me.
2Surely mockers surround Lit are with me
and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion. Ps 22:7; 119:51; Jr 20:7
3Make arrangements! Put up security for me. Lit me with You Gn 43:9; Ps 119:122; Pr 6:1
Who else will be my sponsor? Lit Who is there that will strike himself into my hand
4You have closed their minds to understanding,
therefore You will not honor them.
5If a man informs on his friends for a price,
the eyes of his children will fail.
6He has made me an object of scorn to the people;
I have become a man people spit at. Lit become a spitting to the faces Nm 12:14; Is 50:6; Mt 27:30
7My eyes have grown dim from grief,
and my whole body has become but a shadow.
8The upright are appalled Jb 18:20; 21:5; Dn 4:19 at this,
and the innocent are roused against the godless.
9Yet the righteous person will hold to his way,
and the one whose hands are clean 2Sm 22:21; Jb 22:30; Ps 24:4 will grow stronger.
10But come back and try again, all of you. Some Hb mss, LXX, Vg; other Hb mss read them
I will not find a wise man among you.
11My days have slipped by;
my plans have been ruined,
even the things dear to my heart.
12They turned night into day
and made light seem near in the face of darkness. Jb 11:17; Ps 37:6; Is 58:8,10
13If I await Sheol as my home,
spread out my bed in darkness,
14and say to corruption: You are my father,
and to the maggot: My mother or my sister, Jb 3:15; 30:23; Ec 12:5
15where then is my hope? Jb 7:6; 14:19; 19:10
Who can see any hope for me?
16Will it go down to the gates of Sheol, Jb 7:9; 11:8; 14:13
or will we descend together to the dust?