[1] The end of my life is near. I can hardly breathe; there is nothing left for me but the grave. [2] I watch how bitterly everyone mocks me. [3] I am being honest, God. Accept my word. There is no one else to support what I say. [4] You have closed their minds to reason; don't let them triumph over me now. [5] In the old proverb someone betrays his friends for money, and his children suffer for it. [6] And now people use this proverb against me; they come and spit in my face. [7] My grief has almost made me blind; my arms and legs are as thin as shadows. [8] Those who claim to be honest are shocked, and they all condemn me as godless. [9] Those who claim to be respectable are more and more convinced they are right. [10] But if all of them came and stood before me, I would not find even one of them wise. [11] My days have passed; my plans have failed; my hope is gone. [12] But my friends say night is daylight; they say that light is near, but I know I remain in darkness. [13] My only hope is the world of the dead, where I will lie down to sleep in the dark. [14] I will call the grave my father, and the worms that eat me I will call my mother and my sisters. [15] Where is there any hope for me? Who sees any? [16] Hope will not go with me when I go down to the world of the dead.
