Job 17
Legacy Standard Bible
Job Seeks Hope
17 “My spirit is broken; my days are extinguished;
The [a](A)grave is ready for me.
2 (B)Surely mockers are with me,
And my eye [b]gazes on their provocation.
3 “Establish, now, a pledge (C)for me with Yourself;
Who is there that will clap my hand in pledge?
4 For You have (D)hidden their heart from insight,
Therefore You will not exalt them.
5 He who (E)informs against friends for a share of the spoil,
The (F)eyes of his children also will come to an end.
6 “But He has made me a (G)byword of the people,
And I am [c]one at whom men (H)spit.
7 My eye has also grown (I)dim because of grief,
And all my (J)members are as a shadow.
8 The upright will be appalled at this,
And the (K)innocent will stir up himself against the godless.
9 Nevertheless (L)the righteous will hold to his way,
And (M)he who has clean hands will grow mightier and mightier.
10 But come again all of [d]you now,
For I (N)do not find a wise man among you.
11 My (O)days are past; my plans are torn apart,
Even 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 (P)Sheol as my home,
I [e]make my bed in the darkness;
14 If I call to the (Q)pit, ‘You are my father’;
To the (R)worm, ‘my mother and my sister’;
15 Where now is (S)my hope?
And who beholds my hope?
16 [f]Will it go down with me to Sheol?
Shall we together (T)go down into the dust?”
Job 17
International Standard Version
Job Laments and Prepares for Death
17 “My spirit is crushed,
my days are over;[a]
it’s the grave for me!
2 Mockers surround me;
I cannot stop staring at their hostility all through the night.
3 Offer, then, some collateral on my behalf.
Is there anyone who will be my guarantor?
4 “Because you’re the one who closed their hearts to compassion;[b]
therefore, you won’t let them triumph.
5 Now as for the one who testifies against his friends
to take their property,[c]
even the eyes of his children will fail.
6 “He has made me a byword among people;
I’m being spit on in the face.
7 My eyes have grown weak from grief;
and my whole body is as thin as a shadow.
8 The upright are appalled over this,
and the innocent person is troubled by the godless.
9 But the righteous person will hold to his way,
and those with clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.”
Job Prepares for Death
10 “Come here now, all of you,
and I won’t find a wise person among you.
11 My days are passed;
my plans have been shattered;
along with my heart’s desires.
12 They have transformed night into day—
‘The light,’ they say, ‘is about to become dark.’
13 “If my hope were that my house is the afterlife[d] itself,
if I were to make my bed in darkness,
14 if I call out to the Pit,[e] ‘You’re my father!’
or say to the worm,[f] ‘My mother!’ or ‘My sister!’
15 where would my hope be?
“And speaking of my hope, who would notice it?
16 Will it go down to the bars that lock the doors[g] of the afterlife?[h]
Will we descend together into the dust?”
Footnotes
- Job 17:1 Lit. extinguished
- Job 17:4 Lit. understanding
- Job 17:5 Or inheritance
- Job 17:13 Lit. Sheol; i.e. the realm of the afterlife
- Job 17:14 I.e. the realm of punishment in the afterlife
- Job 17:14 I.e. an agent of punishment in the afterlife
- Job 17:16 The Heb. lacks that lock the doors
- Job 17:16 Lit. Sheol; i.e. the realm of the dead
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