Job 17
1 My breath is corrupt: my dayes are cut off, and the graue is readie for me.
“My spirit has been destroyed, My days extinguished—graves [are] for me.
2 There are none but mockers with mee, and mine eye continueth in their bitternesse.
If not—mockeries [are] with me. And my eye lodges in their provocations.
3 Lay downe nowe and put me in suretie for thee: who is hee, that will touch mine hand?
Now place my pledge with You; Who is he that strikes hand with me?
4 For thou hast hid their heart from vnderstanding: therefore shalt thou not set them vp on hie.
For You have hidden their heart from understanding, Therefore You do not exalt them.
5 For the eyes of his children shall faile, that speaketh flattery to his friends.
For a portion he shows friendship, And the eyes of his sons are consumed.
6 Hee hath also made mee a byword of the people, and I am as a Tabret before them.
And He set me up for a proverb of the peoples, And I am a wonder before them.
7 Mine eye therefore is dimme for griefe, and all my strength is like a shadowe.
And my eye is dim from sorrow, And my members—all of them—as a shadow.
8 The righteous shalbe astonied at this, and the innocent shalbe moued against ye hypocrite.
The upright are astonished at this, and the innocent stirs himself up against the profane.
9 But the righteous wil holde his way, and he whose hands are pure, shall increase his strength.
And the righteous lays hold [on] his way, And the clean of hands adds strength.
10 All you therefore turne you, and come nowe, and I shall not finde one wise among you.
But please return and come in, all of you, And I do not find a wise man among you.
11 My dayes are past, mine enterprises are broken, and the thoughts of mine heart
My days have passed by, My plans have been broken off, The possessions of my heart!
12 Haue changed the nyght for the day, and the light that approched, for darkenesse.
They appoint night for day, Light [is] near because of darkness.
13 Though I hope, yet the graue shall bee mine house, and I shall make my bed in the darke. (Sheol h7585)
If I wait—Sheol [is] my house, In darkness I have spread out my bed. (Sheol h7585)
14 I shall say to corruption, Thou art my father, and to the worme, Thou art my mother and my sister.
To corruption I have called: You [are] my father. To the worm: My mother and my sister.
15 Where is then now mine hope? or who shall consider the thing, that I hoped for?
And where [is] my hope now? Indeed, my hope, who beholds it?
