< Job 17 >

1 My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me.
My spirit is consumed, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me.
2 Are there not mockers with me? and does not mine eye continue in their provocation?
Surely there are mockers with me, and my eye dwells upon their provocation.
3 Lay down now, put me in a guarantor with you; who is he that will shake hands with me?
Give now a pledge, be surety for me with thyself. Who is there that will strike hands with me?
4 For you have hid their heart from understanding: therefore shall you not exalt them.
For thou have hid their heart from understanding. Therefore thou shall not exalt them.
5 He that speaks flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.
He who denounces his friends for a prey, even the eyes of his sons shall fail.
6 He has made me also a byword of the people; and in old times I was as a timbrel.
But he has made me a byword of the people, and they spit in my face.
7 Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.
My eye also is dim because of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.
8 Upright men shall be astonished at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite.
Upright men shall be astonished at this, and the innocent shall stir himself up against the profane.
9 The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that has clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.
Yet the righteous shall hold on his way. And he who has clean hands shall grow stronger and stronger.
10 But as for you all, do all of you return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you.
But as for you all, come on now again, and I shall 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 are past. My purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.
12 They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.
They change the night into day. The light, they say, is near to the darkness.
13 If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness. (Sheol h7585)
If I look for Sheol as my house, if I have spread my couch in the darkness, (Sheol h7585)
14 I have said to corruption, You are my father: to the worm, You are my mother, and my sister.
if I have said to corruption, Thou are my father, to the worm, My mother, and my sister,
15 And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?
where then is my hope? And as for my hope, who shall see it?
16 They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust. (Sheol h7585)
It shall go down to the bars of Sheol when once there is rest in the dust. (Sheol h7585)

< Job 17 >