Job 17
1 “My spirit is broken; my days are extinguished; the grave awaits me.
My spirit is broken, my days are cut short, the grave is ready for me.
2 Surely mockers surround me, and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.
Yet truly those that mock are with me, and on their offendings must my eye rest.
3 Give me, I pray, the pledge You demand. Who else will be my guarantor?
And thou, [Creator!] attend, I pray thee, be my surety with thyself: who else is there that would strike hands with me?
4 You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore You will not exalt them.
For thou hast concealed their heart against intelligence: therefore art thou not exalted [through them].
5 If a man denounces his friends for a price, the eyes of his children will fail.
Every one of them speaketh deceptively to his friends: may also the eyes of his children fail.
6 He has made me a byword among the people, a man in whose face they spit.
And he hath placed me here as a by-word unto nations; and I become openly as a place of abomination.
7 My eyes have grown dim with grief, and my whole body is but a shadow.
Therefore is my eye dim from vexation, and my limbs are all of them like a shadow.
8 The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent are stirred against the godless.
Upright men must be astonished at this, and the innocent must arouse himself against the hypocrite.
9 Yet a righteous one holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger.
Yet will the righteous hold firmly on to his way; and he that is clean of hands will acquire additional strength.
10 But come back and try again, all of you. For I will not find a wise man among you.
But all of you, do only return, and come but [to me]: and yet I shall not find among you one wise man.
11 My days have passed; my plans are broken off— even the desires of my heart.
My days are past, my resolves are broken off, [even the thoughts]—the possessions of my heart.
12 They have turned night into day, making light seem near in the face of darkness.
These would change the night into day, the light as near in the presence of darkness.—
When I hope for the nether world as my house; in the darkness have I spread my couch; (Sheol h7585)
14 and say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
When I call to corruption, Thou art my father: Thou art my mother, and my sister, to the worms.
15 where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?
Ay, where is then my hope? as for my hope, who will see it [fulfilled]?
