Job 17
1 My spirit shall be wasted, my days shall be shortened, and only the grave remaineth for me.
“My spirit is broken; my days are extinguished; the grave awaits me.
2 I have not sinned, and my eye abideth in bitterness.
Surely mockers surround me, and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.
3 Deliver me O Lord, and set me beside thee, and let any man’s hand fight against me.
Give me, I pray, the pledge You demand. Who else will be my guarantor?
4 Thou hast set their heart far from understanding, therefore they shall not be exalted.
You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore You will not exalt them.
5 He promiseth a prey to his companions, and the eyes of his children shall fail.
If a man denounces his friends for a price, the eyes of his children will fail.
6 He hath made me as it were a byword of the people, and I am an example before them.
He has made me a byword among the people, a man in whose face they spit.
7 My eye is dim through indignation, and my limbs are brought as it were to nothing.
My eyes have grown dim with grief, and my whole body is but a shadow.
8 The just shall be astonished at this, and the innocent shall be raised up against the hypocrite.
The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent are stirred against the godless.
9 And the just man shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.
Yet a righteous one holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger.
10 Wherefore be you all converted, and come, and I shall not find among you any wise man.
But come back and try again, all of you. For I will not find a wise man among you.
11 My days have passed away, my thoughts are dissipated, tormenting my heart.
My days have passed; my plans are broken off— even the desires of my heart.
12 They have turned night into day, and after darkness I hope for light again.
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 If I have said to rottenness: Thou art my father; to worms, my mother and my sister.
and say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
15 Where is now then my expectation, and who considereth my patience?
where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?
