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 mine eye abideth in 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 hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt [them].
5 If a man denounces his friends for a price, the eyes of his children will fail.
He that denounceth his friends for a prey, even 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 also a byword of the people; and I am become an open abhorring.
7 My eyes have grown dim with grief, and my whole body is but a shadow.
Mine eye also is dim by reason 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 astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the godless.
9 Yet a righteous one holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger.
Yet shall the righteous hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall wax stronger and stronger.
10 But come back and try again, all of you. For I will not find a wise man among you.
But return ye, all of you, and come now: 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 droughts of my heart.
12 They have turned night into day, making light seem near in the face of darkness.
They change the night into a day: the fight, [say they], is near unto the darkness.
If I look for Sheol as mine 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 art my father; to the worm, [Thou art] 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?
