Job 17
1 “My spirit is broken; my days are extinguished; the grave awaits me.
My spirit is consumed, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me.
2 Surely mockers surround me, and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.
Surely there are mockers with me, and my eye dwells upon their provocation.
3 Give me, I pray, the pledge You demand. Who else will be my guarantor?
Give now a pledge, be surety for me with thyself. Who is there that will strike hands with me?
4 You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore You will not exalt them.
For thou have hid their heart from understanding. Therefore thou shall not exalt them.
5 If a man denounces his friends for a price, the eyes of his children will fail.
He who denounces his friends for a prey, even the eyes of his sons shall fail.
6 He has made me a byword among the people, a man in whose face they spit.
But he has made me a byword of the people, and they spit in my face.
7 My eyes have grown dim with grief, and my whole body is but a shadow.
My eye also is dim because of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.
8 The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent are stirred against the godless.
Upright men shall be astonished at this, and the innocent shall stir himself up against the profane.
9 Yet a righteous one holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger.
Yet the righteous shall hold on his way. And he who has clean hands shall grow stronger and stronger.
10 But come back and try again, all of you. For I will not find a wise man among you.
But as for you all, come on now again, and I shall not find a wise man among you.
11 My days have passed; my plans are broken off— even the desires of my heart.
My days are past. My purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.
12 They have turned night into day, making light seem near in the face of darkness.
They change the night into day. The light, they say, is near to the darkness.
If I look for Sheol as my house, if I have spread my couch in the darkness, (Sheol h7585)
14 and say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
if I have said to corruption, Thou are my father, to the worm, My mother, and my sister,
15 where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?
where then is my hope? And as for my hope, who shall see it?
