Job 17

¹My spirit will be wasted, my days will be shortened, and only the grave will be left for me.

²I have not sinned, yet my eye remains in bitterness.

³Free me, O Lord, and set me beside you, and let the hand of anyone you wish fight against me.

⁴You have set their heart far from discipline; therefore, they will not be praised.

⁵He promises prey to his companions, but the eyes of his sons will grow faint.

⁶He has posted me like a proverb to the people, and I am an example in their presence.

⁷My eyesight has been clouded by indignation, and my limbs have been reduced, as if to nothing.

⁸The just will be astounded over this, and the innocent will be stirred up against the hypocrite.

⁹And the just will cling to his way, and clean hands will increase strength.

¹⁰Therefore, be converted, all of you, and approach, for I do not find in you any wisdom.

¹¹My days have passed away; my thoughts have been scattered, tormenting my heart.

¹²They have turned night into day, and I hope for light again after the darkness.

¹³If I should wait, the underworld is my house, and in darkness I have spread out my bed.

¹⁴I have said to decay and to worms: “You are my father, my mother, and my sister.”

¹⁵Therefore, where is my expectation now, and who is it that considers my patience?

¹⁶Everything of mine will descend into the deepest underworld; do you think that, in that place at least, there will be rest for me?

Job 17

¹My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me.

²Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation?

³Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me?

⁴For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt them.

⁵He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.

⁶He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret.

⁷Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.

⁸Upright men shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite.

⁹The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.

¹⁰But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you.

¹¹My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.

¹²They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.

¹³If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.

¹⁴I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.

¹⁵And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?

¹⁶They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.