| English Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1“My spirit is broken; my days are extinct; the graveyard is ready for me. | 1My spirit is broken, my days have faded out, the grave awaits me. |
| 2Surely there are mockers about me, and my eye dwells on their provocation. | 2Surely mockery is with me; my eyes must dwell on their hostility. |
| 3“Lay down a pledge for me with you; who is there who will put up security for me? | 3Make then my pledge with you. Who else will put up security for me? |
| 4Since you have closed their hearts to understanding, therefore you will not let them triumph. | 4Because you have closed their minds to understanding, therefore you will not exalt them. |
| 5He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property— the eyes of his children will fail. | 5If a man denounces his friends for personal gain, 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. | 6He has made me a byword to people, I am the one in whose face they spit. |
| 7My eye has grown dim from vexation, and all my members are like a shadow. | 7My eyes have grown dim with grief; my whole frame is but a shadow. |
| 8The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless. | 8Upright men are appalled at this; the innocent man is troubled with the godless. |
| 9Yet the righteous holds to his way, and he who has clean hands grows stronger and stronger. | 9But the righteous man holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger. |
| 10But you, come on again, all of you, and I shall not find a wise man among you. | 10"But turn, all of you, and come now! I will not find a wise man among you. |
| 11My days are past; my plans are broken off, the desires of my heart. | 11My days have passed, my plans are shattered, even the desires of my heart. |
| 12They make night into day: ‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’ | 12These men change night into day; they say, 'The light is near in the face of darkness.' |
| 13If I hope for Sheol as my house, if I make my bed in darkness, | 13If I hope for the grave to be my home, if I spread out my bed in darkness, |
| 14if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’ | 14If I cry to corruption, 'You are my father,' and to the worm, 'My Mother,' or 'My sister,' |
| 15where then is my hope? Who will see my hope? | 15where then is my hope? And my hope, who sees it? |
| 16Will it go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust?” | 16Will it go down to the barred gates of death? Will we descend together into the dust?" |
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