Job 17
1 “My spirit has been destroyed, My days extinguished—graves [are] for me.
My spirit is consumed, and my days are over; the grave is ready for me.
2 If not—mockeries [are] with me. And my eye lodges in their provocations.
Surely there are mockers with me; my eye must always see their provocation.
3 Now place my pledge with You; Who is he that strikes hand with me?
Give now a pledge, be a guarantee for me with yourself; who else is there who will help me?
4 For You have hidden their heart from understanding, Therefore You do not exalt them.
For you, God, have kept their hearts from understanding; therefore, you will not exalt them over me.
5 For a portion he shows friendship, And the eyes of his sons are consumed.
He who denounces his friends for a reward, 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.
But he has made me a byword of the people; they spit in my face.
7 And my eye is dim from sorrow, And my members—all of them—as a shadow.
My eye is also dim because of sorrow; all my body parts are as thin as shadows.
8 The upright are astonished at this, and the innocent stirs himself up against the profane.
Upright men will be stunned by this; the innocent man will stir himself up against godless men.
9 And the righteous lays hold [on] his way, And the clean of hands adds strength.
The righteous man will keep to his way; he who has clean hands will grow 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, come on now; 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 are past; my plans are shattered, and so are the desires of my heart.
12 They appoint night for day, Light [is] near because of darkness.
These people, these mockers, change the night into day; light is near to darkness.
If the only home I hope for is Sheol; and if I have spread my couch in the darkness; (Sheol h7585)
14 To corruption I have called: You [are] my father. To the worm: My mother and my sister.
and if I have said to the pit, 'You are my father,' and to the worm, 'You are my mother or my sister,'
15 And where [is] my hope now? Indeed, my hope, who beholds it?
where then is my hope? As for my hope, who can see any?
