Job 17
1 My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are mine.
I perish, carried away by the wind, and I seek for burial, and obtain [it] not.
2 Are there not mockers around me? and doth [not] mine eye abide in their provocation?
Weary I entreat; and what have I done? and strangers have stolen my goods.
3 Lay down now [a pledge], be thou surety for me with thyself: who is he that striketh hands with me?
Who is this? let him join hands with me.
4 For thou hast hidden their heart from understanding; therefore thou wilt not exalt [them].
For you have hid their heart from wisdom; therefore you shall not exalt them.
5 He that betrayeth friends for a prey — even the eyes of his children shall fail.
He shall promise mischief to [his] companions: but [their] eyes have failed for [their] children.
6 And he hath made me a proverb of the peoples; and I am become one to be spit on in the face.
But you has made me a byword amount the nations, and I am become a scorn to them.
7 And mine eye is dim by reason of grief, and all my members are as a shadow.
For my eyes are dimmed through pain; I have been grievously beset by all.
8 Upright men [shall be] astonished at this, and the innocent shall be stirred up against the ungodly;
Wonder has seized true men upon this; and let the just rise up against the transgressor.
9 But the righteous shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall increase in strength.
But let the faithful hold on his own way, and let him that is pure of hands take courage.
10 But as for you all, pray come on again; and I shall not find one wise man among you.
Howbeit, do you all strengthen [yourselves] and come now, for I do not find truth in you.
11 My days are past, my purposes are broken off, the cherished thoughts of my heart.
My days have passed in groaning, and my heart-strings are broken.
12 They change the night into day; the light [they imagine] near in presence of the darkness.
I have turned the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.
For if I remain, Hades is my habitation: and my bed has been made in darkness. (Sheol h7585)
14 I cry to the grave, Thou art my father! to the worm, My mother, and my sister!
I have called upon death to be my father, and corruption [to be] my mother and sister.
15 And where is then my hope? yea, my hope, who shall see it?
Where then is yet my hope? or [where] shall I see my good?
