Job 17
1 I perish, carried away by the wind, and I seek for burial, and obtain [it] not.
“My spirit is broken; my days are extinguished; the grave awaits me.
2 Weary I entreat; and what have I done? and strangers have stolen my goods.
Surely mockers surround me, and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.
3 Who is this? let him join hands with me.
Give me, I pray, the pledge You demand. Who else will be my guarantor?
4 For you have hid their heart from wisdom; therefore you shall not exalt them.
You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore You will not exalt them.
5 He shall promise mischief to [his] companions: but [their] eyes have failed for [their] children.
If a man denounces his friends for a price, the eyes of his children will fail.
6 But you has made me a byword amount the nations, and I am become a scorn to them.
He has made me a byword among the people, a man in whose face they spit.
7 For my eyes are dimmed through pain; I have been grievously beset by all.
My eyes have grown dim with grief, and my whole body is but a shadow.
8 Wonder has seized true men upon this; and let the just rise up against the transgressor.
The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent are stirred against the godless.
9 But let the faithful hold on his own way, and let him that is pure of hands take courage.
Yet a righteous one holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger.
10 Howbeit, do you all strengthen [yourselves] and come now, for I do not find truth in you.
But come back and try again, all of you. For I will not find a wise man among you.
11 My days have passed in groaning, and my heart-strings are broken.
My days have passed; my plans are broken off— even the desires of my heart.
12 I have turned the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.
They have turned night into day, making light seem near in the face of darkness.
If I look for Sheol as my home, if I spread out my bed in darkness, (Sheol h7585)
14 I have called upon death to be my father, and corruption [to be] my mother and sister.
and say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
15 Where then is yet my hope? or [where] shall I see my good?
where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?
