Job 17
1 “My spirit has been destroyed, My days extinguished—graves [are] for me.
“My spirit is consumed. My days are extinct and 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 dwells on their provocation.
3 Now place my pledge with You; Who is he that strikes hand with me?
“Now give a pledge. Be collateral for me with yourself. Who is there who will strike hands with me?
4 For You have hidden their heart from understanding, Therefore You do not exalt them.
For you have hidden their heart from understanding, therefore you will not exalt them.
5 For a portion he shows friendship, And the eyes of his sons are consumed.
He who denounces his friends for plunder, even 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 also is dim by reason of sorrow. 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 will be astonished at this. The innocent will stir himself up against the godless.
9 And the righteous lays hold [on] his way, And the clean of hands adds strength.
Yet the righteous will hold 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 back. 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 broken off, as are the thoughts of my heart.
12 They appoint night for day, Light [is] near because of darkness.
They change the night into day, saying ‘The light is near’ in the presence of darkness.
If I look for Sheol as my house, 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.
if I have said to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ and ‘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 will see it?
