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
Job 17
King James Version
17 My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me.
2 Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation?
3 Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me?
4 For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt them.
5 He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.
6 He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret.
7 Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.
8 Upright men shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite.
9 The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.
10 But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you.
11 My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.
12 They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.
13 If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.
14 I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.
15 And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?
16 They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.
Ang Bagong Tipan: Filipino Standard Version, Copyright © Philippine Bible Society 2009.
Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission of Davidson Press, LLC.
