My breath
is corrupt,
my days
are extinct,
the graves
are ready for me.
Are there not mockers
with me? and doth not mine eye
continue
in their provocation?
Lay down
now, put me in a surety
with thee; who is he that will strike
hands
with me?
For thou hast hid
their heart
from understanding:
therefore shalt thou not exalt
them.
He that speaketh
flattery
to his friends,
even the eyes
of his children
shall fail.
He hath made
me also a byword
of the people;
and aforetime
I was as a tabret.
Mine eye
also is dim
by reason of sorrow,
and all my members
are as a shadow.
Upright
men shall be astonied
at this, and the innocent
shall stir up
himself against the hypocrite.
The righteous
also shall hold
on his way,
and he that hath clean
hands
shall be
stronger and stronger.
But
as for you all, do ye return,
and come now:
for I cannot find
one wise
man among you.
My days
are past,
my purposes
are broken off,
even the thoughts
of my heart.
They change
the night
into day:
the light
is short
because
of darkness.
If I wait,
the grave
is mine house:
I have made
my bed
in the darkness.
I have said
to corruption,
Thou art my father:
to the worm,
Thou art my mother,
and my sister.
And where is now
my hope?
as for my hope,
who shall see
it?
They shall go down
to the bars
of the pit,
when our rest
together
is in the dust.
