¹³ “For now I ^(A)would have lain down and been quiet;
I would have slept then, I would have been at rest,
¹⁴ With ^(B)kings and with ^(C)counselors of the earth,
Who rebuilt ^(D)ruins for themselves;
¹⁵ Or with ^(E)princes ^(F)who had gold,
Who were filling their houses with silver.
¹⁶ “Or like a miscarriage which is ^[a]discarded, I would not be,
As infants that never saw light.
¹⁷ “There the wicked cease from raging,
And there the ^[b]weary are at ^(G)rest.
¹⁸ “The prisoners are at ease together;
They do not hear the voice of the taskmaster.
¹⁹ “The small and the great are there,
And the slave is free from his master.

⁸ “The ^(A)eye of him who sees me will behold me no longer;
Your eyes will be on me, but ^(B)I will not be.
⁹ “When a ^(C)cloud vanishes, it is gone,
So ^(D)he who goes down to ^(E)Sheol does not come up.
¹⁰ “He will not return again to his house,
Nor will ^(F)his place know him anymore.

²¹ “Why then ^(A)do You not pardon my transgression
And take away my iniquity?
For now I will ^(B)lie down in the dust;
And You will seek me, ^(C)but I will not be.”

²¹ Before I go—^(A)and I shall not return—
^(B)To the land of darkness and ^(C)deep shadow,
²² The land of utter gloom as darkness itself,
Of deep shadow without order,
And which shines as the darkness.”

¹⁰ “But ^(A)man dies and lies prostrate.
Man ^(B)expires, and where is he?
¹¹ “As ^(C)water ^[a]evaporates from the sea,
And a river becomes parched and dried up,
¹² So ^(D)man lies down and does not rise.
Until the heavens are no longer,
^[b]He will not awake nor be aroused out of ^[c]his sleep.

¹³ “Oh that You would hide me in ^[d]Sheol,
That You would conceal me ^(E)until Your wrath returns to You,
That You would set a limit for me and remember me!
¹⁴ “If a man dies, will he live again?
All the days of my struggle I will wait
Until my change comes.
¹⁵ “You will call, and I will answer You;
You will long for ^(F)the work of Your hands.

²⁰ “You forever overpower him and he ^(A)departs;
You change his appearance and send him away.
²¹ “His sons achieve honor, but ^(B)he does not know it;
Or they become insignificant, but he does not perceive it.
²² “But his ^[a]body pains him,
And he mourns only for himself.”

²² “For when a few years are past,
I shall go the way ^(A)of no return.

¹³ “If I look for ^(A)Sheol as my home,
I ^[a]make my bed in the darkness;
¹⁴ If I call to the ^(B)pit, ‘You are my father’;
To the ^(C)worm, ‘my mother and my sister’;
¹⁵ Where now is ^(D)my hope?
And who regards my hope?
¹⁶ “^[b]Will it go down with me to Sheol?
Shall we together ^(E)go down into the dust?”