16  My face is red with weeping,

and on my eyelids is ^adeep darkness,

17  although there is no ^bviolence in my hands,

and my prayer is pure.

18  “O earth, ^ccover not my blood,

and let my ^dcry find no resting place.

19  Even now, behold, my ^ewitness is in heaven,

and he who testifies for me is ^fon high.

20  My friends ^gscorn me;

my eye pours out tears to God,

21  that he would ^hargue the case of a man with God,

as¹ a son of man does with his neighbor.

22  For when a few years have come

I shall go the way ⁱfrom which I shall not return.

1  “My spirit is broken; my days are ^jextinct;

^kthe graveyard is ready for me.

13  If I hope for ^wSheol as ^xmy house,

if I make my bed 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 ^wSheol?

Shall we ^ydescend together ^zinto the dust?”¹