Add parallel Print Page Options

17 “My spirit is consumed.
    My days are extinct,
    and the grave is ready for me.
Surely there are mockers with me.
    My eye dwells on their provocation.

“Now give a pledge. Be collateral for me with yourself.
    Who is there who will strike hands with me?
For you have hidden their heart from understanding,
    Therefore you will not exalt them.
He who denounces his friends for plunder,
    Even the eyes of his children will fail.

“But he has made me a byword of the people.
    They spit in my face.
My eye also is dim by reason of sorrow.
    All my members are as a shadow.
Upright men will be astonished at this.
    The innocent will stir himself up against the godless.
Yet the righteous will hold to his way.
    He who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.
10 But as for you all, come back.
    I will not find a wise man among you.
11 My days are past.
    My plans are broken off,
    as are the thoughts of my heart.
12 They change the night into day,
    saying ‘The light is near’ in the presence of darkness.
13 If I look for Sheol[a] as my house,
    if I have spread my couch in the darkness,
14 if I have said to corruption, ‘You are my father;’
    to the worm, ‘My mother,’ and ‘My sister,’
15 where then is my hope?
    As for my hope, who will see it?
16 Shall it go down with me to the gates of Sheol,[b]
    or descend together into the dust?”

Footnotes

  1. 17:13 Sheol is the place of the dead.
  2. 17:16 Sheol is the place of the dead.

17 My spirit is broken, my days are spent (snuffed out); the grave is ready for me.

Surely there are mockers and mockery around me, and my eye dwells on their obstinacy, insults, and resistance.

Give me a pledge with Yourself [acknowledge my innocence before my death]; who is there that will give security for me?

But their hearts [Lord] You have closed to understanding; therefore You will not let them triumph [by giving them a verdict against me].

He who denounces his friends [in order to make them] a prey and get a share, the eyes of his children shall fail [to find food].

But He has made me a byword among the people, and they spit before my face.

My eye has grown dim because of grief, and all my members are [wasted away] like a shadow.

Upright men shall be astonished and appalled at this, and the innocent shall stir himself up against the godless and polluted.

Yet shall the righteous (those upright and in right standing with God) hold to their ways, and he who has clean hands shall grow stronger and stronger.(A)

10 But as for you, come on again, all of you, though I find not a wise man among you.

11 My days are past, my purposes and plans are frustrated; even the thoughts (desires and possessions) of my heart [are broken off].

12 These [thoughts] extend from the night into the day, [so that] the light is short because of darkness.

13 But if I look to Sheol (the unseen state) as my abode, if I spread my couch in the darkness,

14 If I say to the grave and corruption, You are my father, and to the worm [that feeds on decay], You are my mother and my sister [because I will soon be closest to you],

15 Where then is my hope? And if I have hope, who will see [its fulfillment]?

16 [My hope] shall go down to the bars of Sheol (the unseen state) when once there is rest in the dust.