Job 17
1 “My spirit is broken; my days are extinguished; the grave awaits me.
“My spirit has been destroyed, My days extinguished—graves [are] for me.
2 Surely mockers surround me, and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.
If not—mockeries [are] with me. And my eye lodges in their provocations.
3 Give me, I pray, the pledge You demand. Who else will be my guarantor?
Now place my pledge with You; Who is he that strikes hand with me?
4 You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore You will not exalt them.
For You have hidden their heart from understanding, Therefore You do not exalt them.
5 If a man denounces his friends for a price, the eyes of his children will fail.
For a portion he shows friendship, And the eyes of his sons are consumed.
6 He has made me a byword among the people, a man in whose face they spit.
And He set me up for a proverb of the peoples, And I am a wonder before them.
7 My eyes have grown dim with grief, and my whole body is but a shadow.
And my eye is dim from sorrow, And my members—all of them—as a shadow.
8 The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent are stirred against the godless.
The upright are astonished at this, and the innocent stirs himself up against the profane.
9 Yet a righteous one holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger.
And the righteous lays hold [on] his way, And the clean of hands adds strength.
10 But come back and try again, all of you. For I will 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 have passed; my plans are broken off— even the desires of my heart.
My days have passed by, My plans have been broken off, The possessions of my heart!
12 They have turned night into day, making light seem near in the face of darkness.
They appoint night for day, Light [is] near because of darkness.
If I wait—Sheol [is] my house, In darkness I have spread out my bed. (Sheol h7585)
14 and say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘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? Who can see any hope for me?
And where [is] my hope now? Indeed, my hope, who beholds it?
