Job 17
1 My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me.
“My spirit is broken; my days are extinguished; the grave awaits me.
2 Are there not mockers with me? and does not my eye continue in their provocation?
Surely mockers surround me, and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.
3 Lay down now, put me in a surety with you; who is he that will strike 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 understanding: therefore shall you not exalt them.
You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore You will not exalt them.
5 He that speaks flattery to his friends, even 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 has made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret.
He has made me a byword among the people, a man in whose face they spit.
7 My eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.
My eyes have grown dim with grief, and my whole body is but a shadow.
8 Upright men shall be astonished at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite.
The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent are stirred against the godless.
9 The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that has clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.
Yet a righteous one holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger.
10 But as for you all, do you return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you.
But come back and try again, all of you. For I will not find a wise man among you.
11 My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.
My days have passed; my plans are broken off— even the desires of my heart.
12 They change 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 said to corruption, You are my father: to the worm, You are my mother, and my sister.
and say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
15 And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?
where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?
