17 My spirit hath been destroyed, My days extinguished -- graves [are] for me.

² If not -- mockeries [are] with me. And in their provocations mine eye lodgeth.

³ Place, I pray Thee, my pledge with Thee; Who is he that striketh hand with me?

⁴ For their heart Thou hast hidden From understanding, Therefore Thou dost not exalt them.

⁵ For a portion he sheweth friendship, And the eyes of his sons are consumed.

⁶ And he set me up for a proverb of the peoples, And a wonder before them I am.

⁷ And dim from sorrow is mine eye, And my members as a shadow all of them.

⁸ Astonished are the upright at this, And the innocent against the profane Stirreth himself up.

⁹ And the righteous layeth hold [on] his way, And the clean of hands addeth strength, And -- dumb are they all.

¹⁰ Return, and come in, I pray you, And I find not among you a wise man.

¹¹ My days have passed by, My devices have been broken off, The possessions of my heart!

¹² Night for day they appoint, Light [is] near because of darkness.

¹³ If I wait -- Sheol [is] my house, In darkness I have spread out my couch.

¹⁴ To corruption I have called: -- `Thou [art] my father.' `My mother' and `my sister' -- to the worm.

¹⁵ And where [is] now my hope? Yea, my hope, who doth behold it?

¹⁶ [To] the parts of Sheol ye go down, If together on the dust we may rest.

18 And Bildad the Shuhite answereth and saith: --

² When do ye set an end to words? Consider ye, and afterwards do we speak.

³ Wherefore have we been reckoned as cattle? We have been defiled in your eyes!

⁴ (He is tearing himself in his anger.) For thy sake is earth forsaken? And removed is a rock from its place?

⁵ Also, the light of the wicked is extinguished. And there doth not shine a spark of his fire.

⁶ The light hath been dark in his tent, And his lamp over him is extinguished.

⁷ Straitened are the steps of his strength, And cast him down doth his own counsel.

⁸ For he is sent into a net by his own feet, And on a snare he doth walk habitually.

⁹ Seize on the heel doth a gin, Prevail over him do the designing.

¹⁰ Hidden in the earth is his cord, And his trap on the path.

¹¹ Round about terrified him have terrors, And they have scattered him -- at his feet.

¹² Hungry is his sorrow, And calamity is ready at his side.

¹³ It consumeth the parts of his skin, Consume his parts doth death's first-born.

¹⁴ Drawn from his tent is his confidence, And it causeth him to step to the king of terrors.

¹⁵ It dwelleth in his tent -- out of his provender, Scattered over his habitation is sulphur.

¹⁶ From beneath his roots are dried up, And from above cut off is his crop.

¹⁷ His memorial hath perished from the land, And he hath no name on the street.

¹⁸ They thrust him from light unto darkness, And from the habitable earth cast him out.

¹⁹ He hath no continuator, Nor successor among his people, And none is remaining in his dwellings.

²⁰ At this day westerns have been astonished And easterns have taken fright.

²¹ Only these [are] tabernacles of the perverse, And this the place God hath not known.

19 And Job answereth and saith: --

² Till when do ye afflict my soul, And bruise me with words?

³ These ten times ye put me to shame, ye blush not. Ye make yourselves strange to me --

⁴ And also -- truly, I have erred, With me doth my error remain.

⁵ If, truly, over me ye magnify yourselves, And decide against me my reproach;

⁶ Know now, that God turned me upside down, And His net against me hath set round,

⁷ Lo, I cry out -- violence, and am not answered, I cry aloud, and there is no judgment.

⁸ My way He hedged up, and I pass not over, And on my paths darkness He placeth.

⁹ Mine honour from off me He hath stripped, And He turneth the crown from my head.

¹⁰ He breaketh me down round about, and I go, And removeth like a tree my hope.

¹¹ And He kindleth against me His anger, And reckoneth me to Him as His adversaries.

¹² Come in do His troops together, And they raise up against me their way, And encamp round about my tent.

¹³ My brethren from me He hath put far off, And mine acquaintances surely Have been estranged from me.

¹⁴ Ceased have my neighbours And my familiar friends have forgotten me,

¹⁵ Sojourners of my house and my maids, For a stranger reckon me: An alien I have been in their eyes.

¹⁶ To my servant I have called, And he doth not answer, With my mouth I make supplication to him.

¹⁷ My spirit is strange to my wife, And my favours to the sons of my [mother's] womb.

¹⁸ Also sucklings have despised me, I rise, and they speak against me.

¹⁹ Abominate me do all the men of my counsel, And those I have loved, Have been turned against me.

²⁰ To my skin and to my flesh Cleaved hath my bone, And I deliver myself with the skin of my teeth.

²¹ Pity me, pity me, ye my friends, For the hand of God hath stricken against me.

²² Why do you pursue me as God? And with my flesh are not satisfied?

²³ Who doth grant now, That my words may be written? Who doth grant that in a book they may be graven?

²⁴ With a pen of iron and lead -- For ever in a rock they may be hewn.

²⁵ That -- I have known my Redeemer, The Living and the Last, For the dust he doth rise.

²⁶ And after my skin hath compassed this [body], Then from my flesh I see God:

²⁷ Whom I -- I see on my side, And mine eyes have beheld, and not a stranger, Consumed have been my reins in my bosom.

²⁸ But ye say, `Why do we pursue after him?' And the root of the matter hath been found in me.

²⁹ Be ye afraid because of the sword, For furious [are] the punishments of the sword, That ye may know that [there is] a judgment.