Chapter 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 amongst 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 ?"