< Job 17 >
1 “My spirit is broken; my days are extinguished; the grave awaits me.
My spirit shall be wasted, my days shall be shortened, and only the grave remaineth for me.
2 Surely mockers surround me, and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.
I have not sinned, and my eye abideth in bitterness.
3 Give me, I pray, the pledge You demand. Who else will be my guarantor?
Deliver me O Lord, and set me beside thee, and let any man’s hand fight against me.
4 You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore You will not exalt them.
Thou hast set their heart far from understanding, therefore they shall not be exalted.
5 If a man denounces his friends for a price, the eyes of his children will fail.
He promiseth a prey to his companions, and the eyes of his children shall fail.
6 He has made me a byword among the people, a man in whose face they spit.
He hath made me as it were a byword of the people, and I am an example before them.
7 My eyes have grown dim with grief, and my whole body is but a shadow.
My eye is dim through indignation, and my limbs are brought as it were to nothing.
8 The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent are stirred against the godless.
The just shall be astonished at this, and the innocent shall be raised up against the hypocrite.
9 Yet a righteous one holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger.
And the just man shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.
10 But come back and try again, all of you. For I will not find a wise man among you.
Wherefore be you all converted, and come, and I shall not find among you any wise man.
11 My days have passed; my plans are broken off— even the desires of my heart.
My days have passed away, my thoughts are dissipated, tormenting my heart.
12 They have turned night into day, making light seem near in the face of darkness.
They have turned night into day, and after darkness I hope for light again.
13 If I look for Sheol as my home, if I spread out my bed in darkness, (Sheol )
If I wait hell is my house, and I have made my bed in darkness. (Sheol )
14 and say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
If I have said to rottenness: Thou art my father; to worms, my mother and my sister.
15 where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?
Where is now then my expectation, and who considereth my patience?
16 Will it go down to the gates of Sheol? Will we go down together into the dust?” (Sheol )
All that I have shall go down into the deepest pit: thinkest thou that there at least I shall have rest? (Sheol )