1“My spirit is crushed, my days cut short, the grave awaits me. 2I am surrounded by mockers. I witness their continued provocation. 3Grant me Your pledge of surety with me. Who else but You will stand up for me? 4For You have closed their (Job’s ‘friends) minds to understanding; so please do not let them prevail. 5He that betrays his friends for his own advantage, even the eyes of his children shall languish. 6He has also made me a byword to everyone, a man in whose face people spit. 7My eye also is dim with grief, and I am a mere a shadow of my former self. 8Upright men are appalled at this, and the righteous are aroused against the godless hypocrite. 9They (the righteous) shall also cling to the way of integrity, and he that has clean hands shall grow stronger and stronger. 10But as for all of you, come back with better comments; for I cannot find one wise man among you.

11“My days are over, my hopes are crushed, even the thoughts of my heart. 12They change night into day; the light is scarce because of darkness. 13If I wait, the grave is my home; I have made my bed in the darkness. 14I have said to corruption, ‘You are my father’; to the worm, ‘You are my mother, and my sister’. 15And where then is my hope, or who can see any hope for me? 16Will it go down to the gates of death? Will we descend together into the dust.”