Job 17
1 “My spirit is broken; my days are extinguished; the grave awaits me.
My breath is corrupt: my dayes are cut off, and the graue is readie for me.
2 Surely mockers surround me, and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.
There are none but mockers with mee, and mine eye continueth in their bitternesse.
3 Give me, I pray, the pledge You demand. Who else will be my guarantor?
Lay downe nowe and put me in suretie for thee: who is hee, that will touch mine hand?
4 You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore You will not exalt them.
For thou hast hid their heart from vnderstanding: therefore shalt thou not set them vp on hie.
5 If a man denounces his friends for a price, the eyes of his children will fail.
For the eyes of his children shall faile, that speaketh flattery to his friends.
6 He has made me a byword among the people, a man in whose face they spit.
Hee hath also made mee a byword of the people, and I am as a Tabret before them.
7 My eyes have grown dim with grief, and my whole body is but a shadow.
Mine eye therefore is dimme for griefe, and all my strength is like a shadowe.
8 The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent are stirred against the godless.
The righteous shalbe astonied at this, and the innocent shalbe moued against ye hypocrite.
9 Yet a righteous one holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger.
But the righteous wil holde his way, and he whose hands are pure, shall increase his strength.
10 But come back and try again, all of you. For I will not find a wise man among you.
All you therefore turne you, and come nowe, and I shall not finde one wise among you.
11 My days have passed; my plans are broken off— even the desires of my heart.
My dayes are past, mine enterprises are broken, and the thoughts of mine heart
12 They have turned night into day, making light seem near in the face of darkness.
Haue changed the nyght for the day, and the light that approched, for darkenesse.
Though I hope, yet the graue shall bee mine house, and I shall make my bed in the darke. (Sheol h7585)
14 and say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
I shall say to corruption, Thou art my father, and to the worme, Thou art my mother and my sister.
15 where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?
Where is then now mine hope? or who shall consider the thing, that I hoped for?
