Job 17
1 “My spirit has been destroyed, My days extinguished—graves [are] for me.
My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me.
2 If not—mockeries [are] with me. And my eye lodges in their provocations.
Are there not mockers with me? and does not mine eye continue in their provocation?
3 Now place my pledge with You; Who is he that strikes hand with me?
Lay down now, put me in a guarantor with you; who is he that will shake hands with me?
4 For You have hidden their heart from understanding, Therefore You do not exalt them.
For you have hid their heart from understanding: therefore shall you not exalt them.
5 For a portion he shows friendship, And the eyes of his sons are consumed.
He that speaks flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.
6 And He set me up for a proverb of the peoples, And I am a wonder before them.
He has made me also a byword of the people; and in old times I was as a timbrel.
7 And my eye is dim from sorrow, And my members—all of them—as a shadow.
Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.
8 The upright are astonished at this, and the innocent stirs himself up against the profane.
Upright men shall be astonished at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite.
9 And the righteous lays hold [on] his way, And the clean of hands adds strength.
The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that has clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.
10 But please return and come in, all of you, And I do not find a wise man among you.
But as for you all, do all of you return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you.
11 My days have passed by, My plans have been broken off, The possessions of my heart!
My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.
12 They appoint night for day, Light [is] near because of darkness.
They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.
If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness. (Sheol h7585)
14 To corruption I have called: You [are] my father. To the worm: My mother and my sister.
I have said to corruption, You are my father: to the worm, You are my mother, and my sister.
15 And where [is] my hope now? Indeed, my hope, who beholds it?
And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?
