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
Lexham English Bible
Job’s Fifth Speech, Continued
17 “My spirit is pulled down; my days are extinguished;
the graveyard is for me.
2 Surely[a] mockery is with me,
and my eye rests[b] on their provocation.
3 Please lay down a pledge for me with yourself;
who is he who will give security for my hand?[c]
4 Indeed,[d] you have closed their mind from understanding;
therefore, you will not let them triumph.
5 He denounces friends for reward,
so[e] his children’s eyes will fail.
6 “And he has made me a proverb for[f] the peoples,
and I am one before whom people spit.[g]
7 And my eye has grown dim from grief,
and the limbs of my body are all[h] like a shadow.
8 The upright are appalled at this,
and the innocent excites himself over the godless.
9 But[i] the righteous holds on to his way,
and he who has clean hands[j] increases in strength.
10 But[k] all of you must return[l]—please come![m]
But[n] I shall not find a wise person among you.
11 “My days are past; my plans are broken down—
even the desires of my heart.
12 They make night into day,
saying, ‘Light is near to darkness.’[o]
13 If I hope for Sheol as my house,
if I spread my couch in the darkness,
14 if I call to the pit, ‘You are my father,’
to the maggot, ‘You are my mother or[p] my sister,’
15 where[q] then is my hope?
And who will see my hope?[r]
16 Will they go down to the bars of Sheol?
Or shall we descend together into the dust?”
Footnotes
- Job 17:2 Literally “If not”
- Job 17:2 Literally “spends the night”
- Job 17:3 Or “who will give security for me?”
- Job 17:4 Or “For”
- Job 17:5 Hebrew “and”
- Job 17:6 Hebrew “of”
- Job 17:6 Literally “and spitting to the faces I am”
- Job 17:7 Hebrew “all of them”
- Job 17:9 Hebrew “And”
- Job 17:9 Literally “the clean of hands”
- Job 17:10 Literally “And but”
- Job 17:10 Literally “all of them you must return”
- Job 17:10 Literally “and please come,” or “come on!”
- Job 17:10 Hebrew “And”
- Job 17:12 Literally “near from the faces of darkness”
- Job 17:14 Or “and”
- Job 17:15 Hebrew “and where”
- Job 17:15 Literally “my hope who will see it”
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.
2012 by Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software