171 My spirit is broken, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me. 2 Surely there are mockers about me, and my eye dwells on their provocation. 3 "Lay down a pledge for me with thyself; who is there that will give surety for me? 4 Since thou hast closed their minds to understanding, therefore thou wilt not let them triumph. 5 He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property, the eyes of his children will fail. 6 "He has made me a byword of the peoples, and I am one before whom men spit. 7 My eye has grown dim from grief, and all my members are like a shadow. 8 Upright men are appalled at this, and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless. 9 Yet the righteous holds to his way, and he that has clean hands grows stronger and stronger.

10 But you, come on again, all of you, and I shall not find a wise man among you. 11 My days are past, my plans are broken off, the desires of my heart. 12 They make night into day; 'The light,' they say, 'is near to the darkness.' 13 If I look for Sheol as my house, if I spread my couch in darkness, 14 if I say to the pit, 'You are my father,' and to the worm, 'My mother,' or 'My sister,' 15 where then is my hope? Who will see my hope? 16 Will it go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust?"