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