< Job 17 >

1 My spirit is consumed, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me.
“My spirit has been destroyed, My days extinguished—graves [are] for me.
2 Surely there are mockers with me, and my eye dwells upon their provocation.
If not—mockeries [are] with me. And my eye lodges in their provocations.
3 Give now a pledge, be surety for me with thyself. Who is there that will strike hands with me?
Now place my pledge with You; Who is he that strikes hand with me?
4 For thou have hid their heart from understanding. Therefore thou shall not exalt them.
For You have hidden their heart from understanding, Therefore You do not exalt them.
5 He who denounces his friends for a prey, even the eyes of his sons shall fail.
For a portion he shows friendship, And the eyes of his sons are consumed.
6 But he has made me a byword of the people, and they spit in my face.
And He set me up for a proverb of the peoples, And I am a wonder before them.
7 My eye also is dim because of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.
And my eye is dim from sorrow, And my members—all of them—as a shadow.
8 Upright men shall be astonished at this, and the innocent shall stir himself up against the profane.
The upright are astonished at this, and the innocent stirs himself up against the profane.
9 Yet the righteous shall hold on his way. And he who has clean hands shall grow stronger and stronger.
And the righteous lays hold [on] his way, And the clean of hands adds strength.
10 But as for you all, come on now again, and I shall not find a wise man among you.
But please return and come in, all of you, And I do not find a wise man among you.
11 My days are past. My purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.
My days have passed by, My plans have been broken off, The possessions of my heart!
12 They change the night into day. The light, they say, is near to the darkness.
They appoint night for day, Light [is] near because of darkness.
13 If I look for Sheol as my house, if I have spread my couch in the darkness, (Sheol h7585)
If I wait—Sheol [is] my house, In darkness I have spread out my bed. (Sheol h7585)
14 if I have said to corruption, Thou are my father, to the worm, My mother, and my sister,
To corruption I have called: You [are] my father. To the worm: My mother and my sister.
15 where then is my hope? And as for my hope, who shall see it?
And where [is] my hope now? Indeed, my hope, who beholds it?
16 It shall go down to the bars of Sheol when once there is rest in the dust. (Sheol h7585)
You go down [to] the parts of Sheol, If we may rest together on the dust.” (Sheol h7585)

< Job 17 >