Job 17
1 I perish, carried away by the wind, and I seek for burial, and obtain [it] not.
My spirit is crushed; my life is extinguished; the grave is ready for me.
2 Weary I entreat; and what have I done? and strangers have stolen my goods.
Mockers surround me. I see how bitterly they ridicule me.
3 Who is this? let him join hands with me.
God, you need to put down a pledge for me with yourself, for 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, so do not let them win!
5 He shall promise mischief to [his] companions: but [their] eyes have failed for [their] children.
They betray friends to gain benefit for themselves and their children suffer for it.
6 But you has made me a byword amount the nations, and I am become a scorn to them.
He has made me a proverb of ridicule among the people; they spit in my face.
7 For my eyes are dimmed through pain; I have been grievously beset by all.
My eyes are worn out from crying and my body is a shadow of its former self.
8 Wonder has seized true men upon this; and let the just rise up against the transgressor.
People who think they are good are shocked to see me. Those who are innocent are troubled by the godless.
9 But let the faithful hold on his own way, and let him that is pure of hands take courage.
Those who are right keep going, and those whose hands are clean grow stronger and stronger.
10 Howbeit, do you all strengthen [yourselves] and come now, for I do not find truth in you.
Why don't you come back and repeat again what you've been saying?—yet I still won't find a wise man among you!
11 My days have passed in groaning, and my heart-strings are broken.
My life is over. My plans are gone. My heart is broken.
12 I have turned the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.
They turn night into day, and say that daylight is close to darkness.
What am I looking for? To make my home in Sheol, to make my bed in darkness? (Sheol h7585)
14 I have called upon death to be my father, and corruption [to be] my mother and sister.
Should I call the grave my father, and the maggot my mother or my sister?
15 Where then is yet my hope? or [where] shall I see my good?
So then where is my hope? Can anyone see any hope for me?
