Job 17
New Living Translation
Job Continues to Defend His Innocence
17 “My spirit is crushed,
and my life is nearly snuffed out.
The grave is ready to receive me.
2 I am surrounded by mockers.
I watch how bitterly they taunt me.
3 “You must defend my innocence, O God,
since no one else will stand up for me.
4 You have closed their minds to understanding,
but do not let them triumph.
5 They betray their friends for their own advantage,
so let their children faint with hunger.
6 “God has made a mockery of me among the people;
they spit in my face.
7 My eyes are swollen with weeping,
and I am but a shadow of my former self.
8 The virtuous are horrified when they see me.
The innocent rise up against the ungodly.
9 The righteous keep moving forward,
and those with clean hands become stronger and stronger.
10 “As for all of you, come back with a better argument,
though I still won’t find a wise man among you.
11 My days are over.
My hopes have disappeared.
My heart’s desires are broken.
12 These men say that night is day;
they claim that the darkness is light.
13 What if I go to the grave[a]
and make my bed in darkness?
14 What if I call the grave my father,
and the maggot my mother or my sister?
15 Where then is my hope?
Can anyone find it?
16 No, my hope will go down with me to the grave.
We will rest together in the dust!”
Job 17
Common English Bible
Another lament
17 My spirit is broken,
my days extinguished,
the grave,[a] mine.
2 Surely mockers are with me,
and my eye looks on their rebellion.
3 Take my guarantee.
Who else is willing to make an agreement?
4 You’ve closed their mind to insight;
therefore, you won’t be exalted.
5 He denounces his friends for gain,
and his children’s eyes fail.
6 He makes me a popular proverb;
I’m like spit in people’s faces.
7 My eye is weak from grief;
my limbs like a shadow—all of them.
8 Those who do the right thing are amazed at this;
the guiltless become troubled about the godless.
9 The innocent clings to his way;
the one whose hands are clean grows stronger.
10 But you can bring all of them again,
and I won’t find a wise one among you.
11 My days have passed;
my goals are destroyed, my heart’s desires.
12 They turn night into day;
light is near because of the darkness.
13 If I hope for the underworld[b] as my dwelling,
lay out my bed in darkness,
14 I’ve called corruption “my father,”
the worm, “my mother and sister.”
15 Where then is my hope?
My hope—who can see it?
16 Will they go down with me to the underworld;[c]
will we descend together to the dust?
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible