Job 17
1 I perish, carried away by the wind, and I seek for burial, and obtain [it] not.
“My spirit has been destroyed, My days extinguished—graves [are] for me.
2 Weary I intreat; and what have I done? and strangers have stolen my goods.
If not—mockeries [are] with me. And my eye lodges in their provocations.
3 Who is this? let him join hands with me.
Now place my pledge with You; Who is he that strikes hand with me?
4 For thou hast hid their heart from wisdom; therefore thou shalt not exalt them.
For You have hidden their heart from understanding, Therefore You do not exalt them.
5 He shall promise mischief to [his] companions: but [their] eyes have failed for [their] children.
For a portion he shows friendship, And the eyes of his sons are consumed.
6 But thou has made me a byword amount the nations, and I am become a scorn to them.
And He set me up for a proverb of the peoples, And I am a wonder before them.
7 For my eyes are dimmed through pain; I have been grievously beset by all.
And my eye is dim from sorrow, And my members—all of them—as a shadow.
8 Wonder has seized true men upon this; and let the just rise up against the transgressor.
The upright are astonished at this, and the innocent stirs himself up against the profane.
9 But let the faithful hold on his own way, and let him that is pure of hands take courage.
And the righteous lays hold [on] his way, And the clean of hands adds strength.
10 Howbeit, do ye all strengthen [yourselves] and come now, for I do not find truth in 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 in groaning, and my heart-strings are broken.
My days have passed by, My plans have been broken off, The possessions of my heart!
12 I have turned the night into day: the light is short because 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 I have called upon death to be my father, and corruption [to be] my mother and sister.
To corruption I have called: You [are] my father. To the worm: My mother and my sister.
15 Where then is yet my hope? or [where] shall I see my good?
And where [is] my hope now? Indeed, my hope, who beholds it?
