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