Job 17

1 “My spirit is broken; my days are extinguished; the grave awaits me.

1 “My spirit is consumed. My days are extinct and the grave is ready for me.

2 Surely mockers surround me, and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.

2 Surely there are mockers with me. My eye dwells on their provocation.

3 Give me, I pray, the pledge You demand. Who else will be my guarantor?

3 “Now give a pledge. Be collateral for me with yourself. Who is there who will strike hands with me?

4 You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore You will not exalt them.

4 For you have hidden their heart from understanding, therefore you will not exalt them.

5 If a man denounces his friends for a price, the eyes of his children will fail.

5 He who denounces his friends for plunder, even the eyes of his children will fail.

6 He has made me a byword among the people, a man in whose face they spit.

6 “But he has made me a byword of the people. They spit in my face.

7 My eyes have grown dim with grief, and my whole body is but a shadow.

7 My eye also is dim by reason of sorrow. All my members are as a shadow.

8 The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent are stirred against the godless.

8 Upright men will be astonished at this. The innocent will stir himself up against the godless.

9 Yet a righteous one holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger.

9 Yet the righteous will hold to his way. He who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.

10 But come back and try again, all of you. For I will not find a wise man among you.

10 But as for you all, come back. I will not find a wise man among you.

11 My days have passed; my plans are broken off—even the desires of my heart.

11 My days are past. My plans are broken off, as are the thoughts of my heart.

12 They have turned night into day, making light seem near in the face of darkness.

12 They change the night into day, saying ‘The light is near’ in the presence of darkness.

13 If I look for Sheol as my home, if I spread out my bed in darkness,

13 If I look for Sheol as my house, if I have spread my couch in the darkness,

14 and say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’

14 if I have said to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ and ‘My sister,’

15 where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?

15 where then is my hope? As for my hope, who will see it?

16 Will it go down to the gates of Sheol? Will we go down together into the dust?”

16 Shall it go down with me to the gates of Sheol, or descend together into the dust?”