Job 17
1My spirit is consumed, and my days are over; 1 the grave is ready for me. 1
2Surely there are mockers with me; 1 my eye must always see their provocation. 1
3Give now a pledge, be a guarantee for me with yourself; 1 who else is there who will help me? 1
4For you, God, have kept their hearts from understanding; 1 therefore, you will not exalt them over me. 1
5He who denounces his friends for a reward, 1 the eyes of his children will fail. 1
6But he has made me a byword of the people; 1 they spit in my face. 1
7My eye is also dim because of sorrow; 1 all my body parts are as thin as shadows. 1
8Upright men will be stunned by this; 1 the innocent man will stir himself up against godless men. 1
9The righteous man will keep to his way; 1 he who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger. 1
10But as for you all, come on now; 1 I will not find a wise man among you. 1
11My days are past; my plans are shattered, 1 and so are the desires of my heart. + 17:11 Some modern versions have My days are past, as are my plans. The wishes of my heart are finished or ... the strings of my heart have been broken . Others have My days are past; my plans are over, as are the wishes of my heart 1
12These people, these mockers, change the night into day; 1 light is near to darkness. 1
13If the only home I hope for is Sheol; 1 and if I have spread my couch in the darkness; 1
14and if I have said to the pit, 'You are my father,' 1 and to the worm, 'You are my mother or my sister,' 1
15where then is my hope? 1 As for my hope, who can see any? 1
16Will hope go down with me to the gates of Sheol 1 when we descend to the dust?”