< Job 17 >
1 My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves [are ready] for me.
I perish, carried away by the wind, and I seek for burial, and obtain [it] not.
2 [Are there] not mockers with me? and doth not my eye continue in their provocation?
Weary I entreat; and what have I done? and strangers have stolen my goods.
3 Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who [is] he [that] will strike hands with me?
Who is this? let him join hands with me.
4 For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt [them].
For you have hid their heart from wisdom; therefore you shall not exalt them.
5 He that speaketh flattery to [his] friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.
He shall promise mischief to [his] companions: but [their] eyes have failed for [their] children.
6 He hath made me also a by-word of the people; and in former time I was as a tabret.
But you has made me a byword amount the nations, and I am become a scorn to them.
7 My eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members [are] as a shade.
For my eyes are dimmed through pain; I have been grievously beset by all.
8 Upright [men] shall be astonished at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite.
Wonder has seized true men upon this; and let the just rise up against the transgressor.
9 The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.
But let the faithful hold on his own way, and let him that is pure of hands take courage.
10 But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find [one] wise [man] among you.
Howbeit, do you all strengthen [yourselves] and come now, for I do not find truth in you.
11 My days are past, my purposes are broken off, [even] the thoughts of my heart.
My days have passed in groaning, and my heart-strings are broken.
12 They change the night into day: the light [is] short because of darkness.
I have turned the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.
13 If I wait, the grave [is] my house: I have made my bed in the darkness. (Sheol )
For if I remain, Hades is my habitation: and my bed has been made in darkness. (Sheol )
14 I have said to corruption, Thou [art] my father: to the worm, [Thou art] my mother, and my sister.
I have called upon death to be my father, and corruption [to be] my mother and sister.
15 And where [is] now my hope? as for my hope, who will see it?
Where then is yet my hope? or [where] shall I see my good?
16 They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when [our] rest together [is] in the dust. (Sheol )
Will they go down with me to Hades, or shall we go down together to the tomb? (Sheol )