1 My spirit{ruach: inner breath} is broken; my days are extinguished; graves are for me{li: for me}.
2 Are there not mockers with me, and does not my eye lodge in their provocations {hamerotam: repeated harassment}, {talan: keeps lingering}?
3 Set {simah: lodge security} it down, please; be surety {areveni: legal guarantor} for me with you; who is he that will strike hands with me?
4 For You have hidden their heart from understanding {sekel: sound judgment}; therefore You will not exalt {romem: raise to honor} them.
5 He who informs against friends for a share{lehelek: for profit}, even the eyes of his sons{banav: his heirs} will fail.
6 And He has set me as a proverb {mashal: mocking byword} for peoples, and I will be a spitting {tofet: humiliating image} before their faces.
7 My eye has grown dim {kahah: lose brightness} from grief, and all my limbs {yitsuray: bodily parts} are like a shadow.
8 The upright will be appalled{ yashommu: stunned aghast} at this, and the innocent will rouse himself against the godless{ khaneph: profane deceiver}.
9 And the righteous will hold fast to his way, and the clean-handed{tohar-yadayim: innocent actions} will increase{yosif: keep growing} in strength.
10 Yet, all of you, return {shuv: turn back} and come, please; and I will not find a wise man {chakam: discerning person} among you.
11 My days have passed; my plans {zimmotay: intended purposes} have been cut off, the treasured portion {morashe: treasured portion} of my heart.
12 They turn{yasimu: redefine time} night into day; light is near in the face{mipnei: in front} of darkness.
13 If I hope, Sheol {sheol: underworld realm} is my house; in the darkness I have spread my couch {yetsuai: bed-place}.
14 To the pit {shakhat: grave pit} I have called, “You are my father”; and to the worm {rimmah: devouring larva}, “You are my mother and my sister.”
15 And where, then {efo: in that case}, is my hope? And my hope, who will see {shur: take notice} it?
16 Will it go down to the bars {baddei: prison enclosure} of Sheol {sheol: underworld realm}? Shall we rest together in the dust?