Job 17
1 “My spirit is broken; my days are extinguished; the grave awaits me.
My spirit, is broken, My days, are extinguished, Graves, are left me.
2 Surely mockers surround me, and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.
Verily there are mockers, with me! And, on their insults, mine eye doth rest.
3 Give me, I pray, the pledge You demand. Who else will be my guarantor?
Appoint it, I pray thee—be thou surety for me with thyself, Who is there that, on my side, can pledge himself?
4 You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore You will not exalt them.
For, their heart, hast thou kept back from understanding, On this account, thou wilt not exalt them.
5 If a man denounces his friends for a price, the eyes of his children will fail.
He that, for a share, denounceth friends, even, the eyes of his children, shall be dim.
6 He has made me a byword among the people, a man in whose face they spit.
But he hath set me, as the byword of peoples, And, one to be spit on in the face, do I become.
7 My eyes have grown dim with grief, and my whole body is but a shadow.
Therefore hath mine eye become dim from vexation, and, my members, are like a shadow, all of them.
8 The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent are stirred against the godless.
Upright men shall be astounded over this, and, the innocent, against the impious, shall rouse themselves.
9 Yet a righteous one holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger.
That the righteous may hold on his way, and, the clean of hands, increase in strength.
10 But come back and try again, all of you. For I will not find a wise man among you.
But indeed, as for them all, will ye bethink yourselves and enter into it, I pray you? Or shall I not find, among you, one who is wise?
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, the possessions of my heart!
12 They have turned night into day, making light seem near in the face of darkness.
Night for day, they appoint, Light, is near, by reason of darkness!
If I wait for hades as my house, in darkness, have spread out my couch; (Sheol h7585)
14 and say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
To corruption, have exclaimed, My father, thou! My mother! and My sister! to the worm.
15 where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?
Where then would be my hope? And, as for my blessedness, who should see it!
