< Job 17 >
1 My spirit is consumed, and my days are over; the grave is ready for me.
My spirit is consumed, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me.
2 Surely there are mockers with me; my eye must always see their provocation.
Surely there are mockers with me, and mine eye abideth in their provocation.
3 Give now a pledge, be a guarantee for me with yourself; who else is there who will help me?
Give now a pledge, be surety for me with Thyself; who else is there that will strike hands with me?
4 For you, God, have kept their hearts from understanding; therefore, you will not exalt them over me.
For Thou hast hid their heart from understanding; therefore shalt Thou not exalt them.
5 He who denounces his friends for a reward, the eyes of his children will fail.
He that denounceth his friends for the sake of flattery, even the eyes of his children shall fail.
6 But he has made me a byword of the people; they spit in my face.
He hath made me also a byword of the people; and I am become one in whose face they spit.
7 My eye is also dim because of sorrow; all my body parts are as thin as shadows.
Mine eye also is dimmed by reason of vexation, and all my members are as a shadow.
8 Upright men will be stunned by this; the innocent man will stir himself up against godless men.
Upright men are astonished at this, and the innocent stirreth up himself against the godless.
9 The righteous man will keep to his way; he who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.
Yet the righteous holdeth on his way, and he that hath clean hands waxeth stronger and stronger.
10 But as for you all, come on now; I will not find a wise man among you.
But as for you all, do ye return, and come now; and I shall not find a wise man among you.
11 My days are past; my plans are shattered, and so are the desires of my heart.
My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.
12 These people, these mockers, change the night into day; light is near to darkness.
They change the night into day; the light is short because of darkness.
13 If the only home I hope for is Sheol; and if I have spread my couch in the darkness; (Sheol )
If I look for the nether-world as my house; if I have spread my couch in the darkness; (Sheol )
14 and if I have said to the pit, 'You are my father,' and to the worm, 'You are my mother or my sister,'
If I have said to corruption: 'Thou art my father', to the worm: 'Thou art my mother, and my sister';
15 where then is my hope? As for my hope, who can see any?
Where then is my hope? And as for my hope, who shall see it?
16 Will hope go down with me to the gates of Sheol when we descend to the dust?” (Sheol )
They shall go down to the bars of the nether-world, when we are at rest together in the dust. (Sheol )