Job Says He Has Become a Proverb

17 “My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished,
The [a](A)grave is ready for me.
(B)Mockers are certainly with me,
And my eye [b]gazes on their provocation.

“Make a pledge (C)for me with Yourself;
Who is there that will [c]be my guarantor?
For You have [d](D)kept their hearts away from understanding;
Therefore You will not exalt them.
He who (E)informs against friends for a share of the spoils,
The (F)eyes of his children also will perish.

“But He has made me a (G)proverb among the people,
And I am [e]one at whom people (H)spit.
My eye has also become (I)inexpressive because of grief,
And all my (J)body parts are like a shadow.
The upright will be appalled at this,
And the (K)innocent will stir himself up against the godless.
Nevertheless (L)the righteous will hold to his way,
And (M)the one who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.
10 But come again all of [f]you now,
For I (N)do not find a wise man among you.
11 My (O)days are past, my plans are torn apart,
The wishes of my heart.
12 They make night into day, saying,
‘The light is near,’ in the presence of darkness.
13 If I hope for [g](P)Sheol as my home,
I [h]make my bed in the darkness;
14 If I call to the (Q)grave, ‘You are my father’;
To the (R)maggot, ‘my mother and my sister’;
15 Where then is (S)my hope?
And who looks at my hope?
16 [i]Will it go down with me to Sheol?
Shall we together (T)go down into the dust?”

Bildad Speaks of the Wicked

18 Then Bildad the Shuhite responded,

“How long will you hunt for words?
Show understanding, and then we can talk.
Why are we (U)regarded as animals,
As stupid in your eyes?
[j]You who tear yourself in your anger—
Should the earth be abandoned for your sake,
Or the rock moved from its place?

“Indeed, the (V)light of the wicked goes out,
And the spark from his fire does not shine.
The light in his tent is (W)darkened,
And his lamp goes out above him.
His [k]vigorous stride is shortened,
And his (X)own plan brings him down.
For he is (Y)thrown into the net by his own feet,
And he steps on the webbing.
A snare seizes him by the heel,
And a trap snaps shut on him.
10 A noose for him is hidden in the ground,
And a trap for him on the pathway.
11 All around (Z)sudden terrors frighten him,
And (AA)harass him at every step.
12 His strength is (AB)famished,
And disaster is ready at his side.
13 [l]It devours parts of his skin,
The firstborn of death (AC)devours his [m]limbs.
14 He is (AD)torn from [n]the security of his tent,
And [o]they march him before the king of (AE)terrors.
15 [p]Nothing of his dwells in his tent;
(AF)Brimstone is scattered on his home.
16 His (AG)roots are dried below,
And his (AH)branch withers above.
17 (AI)The memory of him perishes from the earth,
And he has no name abroad.
18 [q]He is driven from light (AJ)into darkness,
And (AK)chased from the inhabited world.
19 He has no (AL)offspring or descendants among his people,
Nor any survivor where he resided.
20 Those in the west are appalled at (AM)his [r]fate,
And those in the east are seized with horror.
21 Certainly these are the (AN)dwellings of the wicked,
And this is the place of him who does not know God.”

Footnotes

  1. Job 17:1 Lit graves are
  2. Job 17:2 Lit dwells
  3. Job 17:3 Lit strike hands with me
  4. Job 17:4 Lit hidden
  5. Job 17:6 Lit a spitting to the faces
  6. Job 17:10 As in some mss and ancient versions; MT them
  7. Job 17:13 I.e., the netherworld
  8. Job 17:13 Lit spread out
  9. Job 17:16 As in LXX; Heb possibly Let my limbs sink down to Sheol, since there is rest in the dust for all.
  10. Job 18:4 Lit The one who tears himself in his
  11. Job 18:7 Lit steps of his strength
  12. Job 18:13 Another reading is His skin is devoured by illness
  13. Job 18:13 Or parts
  14. Job 18:14 Lit his tent his trust
  15. Job 18:14 Lit you march or she marches
  16. Job 18:15 Another reading is Fire dwells in his tent
  17. Job 18:18 Lit They drive him...And chase him
  18. Job 18:20 Lit day

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