Job 17
1 “My spirit has been destroyed, My days extinguished—graves [are] for me.
“My spirit is broken; my days are extinguished; the grave awaits me.
2 If not—mockeries [are] with me. And my eye lodges in their provocations.
Surely mockers surround me, and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.
3 Now place my pledge with You; Who is he that strikes hand with me?
Give me, I pray, the pledge You demand. Who else will be my guarantor?
4 For You have hidden their heart from understanding, Therefore You do not exalt them.
You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore You will not exalt them.
5 For a portion he shows friendship, And the eyes of his sons are consumed.
If a man denounces his friends for a price, the eyes of his children will fail.
6 And He set me up for a proverb of the peoples, And I am a wonder before them.
He has made me a byword among the people, a man in whose face they spit.
7 And my eye is dim from sorrow, And my members—all of them—as a shadow.
My eyes have grown dim with grief, and my whole body is but a shadow.
8 The upright are astonished at this, and the innocent stirs himself up against the profane.
The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent are stirred against the godless.
9 And the righteous lays hold [on] his way, And the clean of hands adds strength.
Yet a righteous one holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger.
10 But please return and come in, all of you, And I do not find a 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 have passed by, My plans have been broken off, The possessions of my heart!
My days have passed; my plans are broken off— even the desires of my heart.
12 They appoint night for day, Light [is] near 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 To corruption I have called: You [are] my father. To the worm: 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] my hope now? Indeed, my hope, who beholds it?
where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?
