Job 17
1 “My spirit has been destroyed, My days extinguished—graves [are] for me.
I perish, carried away by the wind, and I seek for burial, and obtain [it] not.
2 If not—mockeries [are] with me. And my eye lodges in their provocations.
Weary I intreat; and what have I done? and strangers have stolen my goods.
3 Now place my pledge with You; Who is he that strikes hand with me?
Who is this? let him join hands with me.
4 For You have hidden their heart from understanding, Therefore You do not exalt them.
For thou hast hid their heart from wisdom; therefore thou shalt not exalt them.
5 For a portion he shows friendship, And the eyes of his sons are consumed.
He shall promise mischief to [his] companions: but [their] eyes have failed for [their] children.
6 And He set me up for a proverb of the peoples, And I am a wonder before them.
But thou has made me a byword amount the nations, and I am become a scorn to them.
7 And my eye is dim from sorrow, And my members—all of them—as a shadow.
For my eyes are dimmed through pain; I have been grievously beset by all.
8 The upright are astonished at this, and the innocent stirs himself up against the profane.
Wonder has seized true men upon this; and let the just rise up against the transgressor.
9 And the righteous lays hold [on] his way, And the clean of hands adds strength.
But let the faithful hold on his own way, and let him that is pure of hands take courage.
10 But please return and come in, all of you, And I do not find a wise man among you.
Howbeit, do ye all strengthen [yourselves] and come now, for I do not find truth in you.
11 My days have passed by, My plans have been broken off, The possessions of my heart!
My days have passed in groaning, and my heart-strings are broken.
12 They appoint night for day, Light [is] near because of darkness.
I have turned the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.
For if I remain, Hades is my habitation: and my bed has been made in darkness. (Sheol h7585)
14 To corruption I have called: You [are] my father. To the worm: My mother and my sister.
I have called upon death to be my father, and corruption [to be] my mother and sister.
15 And where [is] my hope now? Indeed, my hope, who beholds it?
Where then is yet my hope? or [where] shall I see my good?
