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 ^(C)counselors of the earth,
Who rebuilt ^(D)ruins for themselves;
¹⁵ Or with ^(E)rulers ^(F)who had gold,
Who were filling their houses with silver.
¹⁶ Or like a miscarriage which is ^[a]hidden, I would not exist,
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 no longer look at me;
Your eyes will be on me, but ^(B)I will not exist.
⁹ When a ^(C)cloud vanishes, it is gone;
In the same way ^(D)one who goes down to ^[a](E)Sheol does not come up.
¹⁰ He will not return to his house again,
Nor will ^(F)his place know about him anymore.

²¹ Why then ^(A)do You not forgive my wrongdoing
And take away my ^[a]guilt?
For now I will ^(B)lie down in the dust;
And You will search for me, ^(C)but I will no longer exist.”

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 like darkness itself,
Of deep shadow without order,
And it shines like darkness.”

¹⁰ But ^(A)a man dies and lies prostrate.
A person ^(B)passes away, and where is he?
¹¹ As ^(C)water ^[a]evaporates from the sea,
And a river becomes parched and dried up,
¹² So ^(D)a man lies down and does not rise.
Until the heavens no longer exist,
^[b]He will not awake nor be woken from ^[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 relief 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, and he does not perceive it.
²² However, his ^[a]body pains him,
And his soul mourns for himself.”

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

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