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22 For when a few years have come,
    I shall go the way from which I shall not return.(A)

Job Prays for Relief

17 “My spirit is broken; my days are extinct;
    the grave is ready for me.(B)
Surely there are mockers around me,
    and my eye dwells on their provocation.(C)

“Lay down a pledge for me with yourself;
    who is there who will give surety for me?(D)
Since you have closed their minds to understanding,
    therefore you will not let them triumph.(E)
Those who denounce friends for reward—
    the eyes of their children will fail.(F)

“He has made me a byword of the peoples,
    and I am one before whom people spit.(G)
My eye has grown dim from grief,
    and all my members are like a shadow.(H)
The upright are appalled at this,
    and the innocent stir themselves up against the godless.
Yet the righteous hold to their way,
    and they who have clean hands grow stronger and stronger.(I)

22 For soon I must go down that road
    from which I will never return.

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.
I am surrounded by mockers.
    I watch how bitterly they taunt me.

“You must defend my innocence, O God,
    since no one else will stand up for me.
You have closed their minds to understanding,
    but do not let them triumph.
They betray their friends for their own advantage,
    so let their children faint with hunger.

“God has made a mockery of me among the people;
    they spit in my face.
My eyes are swollen with weeping,
    and I am but a shadow of my former self.
The virtuous are horrified when they see me.
    The innocent rise up against the ungodly.
The righteous keep moving forward,
    and those with clean hands become stronger and stronger.