Job 17-20

English Standard Version

³ “Lay down a pledge for me with you;
    who is there who will put up ^(D)security for me?
⁴ Since you have closed their hearts to understanding,
    therefore you will not let them triumph.
⁵ He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property—
    the ^(E)eyes of his children will fail.

⁶ “He has made me ^(F)a byword of the peoples,
    and I am one before whom men spit.
⁷ My ^(G)eye has grown dim from vexation,
    and all my members are like ^(H)a shadow.
⁸ The upright are ^(I)appalled at this,
    and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless.
⁹ Yet the righteous holds to his way,
    and he who has ^(J)clean hands grows stronger and stronger.
¹⁰ But you, ^(K)come on again, all of you,
    and I shall not find a wise man among you.
¹¹ My ^(L)days are past; my plans are broken off,
    the desires of my heart.
¹² They ^(M)make night into day:
    ‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’^[a]
13 If I hope for ^(N)Sheol as ^(O)my house,
    if I make my bed in darkness,
¹⁴ if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’
    and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
¹⁵ where then is my hope?
    Who will see my hope?
¹⁶ Will it go down to the bars of ^(P)Sheol?
    Shall we ^(Q)descend together ^(R)into the dust?”^[b]

² “How long will you ^(T)hunt for words?
    Consider, and then we will speak.
³ Why are we counted as ^(U)cattle?
    Why are we stupid in your sight?
⁴ You who ^(V)tear yourself in your anger,
    shall the earth be forsaken for you,
    or ^(W)the rock be removed out of its place?

⁵ “Indeed, ^(X)the light of the wicked is put out,
    and the flame of his fire does not shine.
⁶ The light is ^(Y)dark in his tent,
    and his lamp above him is put out.
⁷ His strong steps are shortened,
    and his ^(Z)own schemes throw him down.
⁸ For he is cast into a net by his own feet,
    and he walks on its mesh.
^9 (AA)A trap seizes him by the heel;
    a snare lays hold of him.
¹⁰ A rope is hidden for him in the ground,
    a trap for him in the path.
^11 (AB)Terrors frighten him on every side,
    and chase him at his heels.
¹² His strength is famished,
    and calamity is ^(AC)ready for his stumbling.
¹³ It consumes the parts of his skin;
    ^(AD)the firstborn of death consumes his limbs.
¹⁴ He is torn from the tent in which he trusted
    and is brought to ^(AE)the king of terrors.
¹⁵ In his tent dwells that which is none of his;
    ^(AF)sulfur is scattered over his habitation.
¹⁶ His ^(AG)roots dry up beneath,
    and his branches ^(AH)wither above.
¹⁷ His ^(AI)memory perishes from the earth,
    and he has no name in the street.
^18 (AJ)He is thrust from light into darkness,
    and driven out of the world.
¹⁹ He has no ^(AK)posterity or progeny among his people,
    and no survivor where he used to live.
²⁰ They of the west are appalled at his ^(AL)day,
    and ^(AM)horror seizes them of the east.
²¹ Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous,
    such is the place of him who ^(AN)knows not God.”

² “How long will you torment me
    and break me in pieces with words?
³ These ^(AO)ten times you have cast reproach upon me;
    are you not ashamed to wrong me?
⁴ And even if it be true that I have erred,
    my error remains with myself.
⁵ If indeed you ^(AP)magnify yourselves against me
    and make my disgrace an argument against me,
⁶ know then that God has ^(AQ)put me in the wrong
    and closed his net about me.
⁷ Behold, I ^(AR)cry out, ‘Violence!’ but I am not answered;
    I call for help, but there is no justice.
⁸ He has ^(AS)walled up my way, so that I cannot pass,
    and he has set darkness upon my paths.
⁹ He has ^(AT)stripped from me my glory
    and taken the ^(AU)crown from my head.
¹⁰ He breaks me down on every side, and I ^(AV)am gone,
    and my hope has he pulled up like a tree.
¹¹ He has kindled his wrath against me
    and ^(AW)counts me as his adversary.
¹² His ^(AX)troops come on together;
    they have ^(AY)cast up their siege ramp^[c] against me
    and encamp around my tent.

¹³ “He has put my ^(AZ)brothers far from me,
    and ^(BA)those who knew me are wholly estranged from me.
¹⁴ My relatives ^(BB)have failed me,
    my close ^(BC)friends have forgotten me.
¹⁵ The guests ^(BD)in my house and my maidservants count me as a stranger;
    I have become a foreigner in their eyes.
¹⁶ I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer;
    I must plead with him with my mouth for mercy.
¹⁷ My breath is strange to my ^(BE)wife,
    and I am a stench to the children of ^(BF)my own mother.
¹⁸ Even young ^(BG)children despise me;
    when I rise they talk against me.
¹⁹ All my ^(BH)intimate friends abhor me,
    and those whom I loved have turned against me.
²⁰ My ^(BI)bones stick to my skin and to my flesh,
    and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
²¹ Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you my friends,
    for the hand of God has ^(BJ)touched me!
²² Why do you, like God, ^(BK)pursue me?
    Why are you not satisfied with my flesh?

²³ “Oh that my words were written!
    Oh that they were ^(BL)inscribed in a book!
²⁴ Oh that with an iron ^(BM)pen and lead
    they were engraved in the rock forever!
²⁵ For I ^(BN)know that my ^(BO)Redeemer lives,
    and at the last he will stand upon the ^(BP)earth.^[d]
26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
    yet in^[e] my flesh I shall ^(BQ)see God,
²⁷ whom I shall see for myself,
    and my eyes shall behold, and not ^(BR)another.
    My heart ^(BS)faints within me!
²⁸ If you say, ‘How we will ^(BT)pursue him!’
    and, ‘The root of the matter is found in him,’^[f]
29 be afraid of the sword,
    for wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
    that you may know there is ^(BU)a judgment.”

² “Therefore my ^(BW)thoughts answer me,
    because of my haste within me.
³ I hear censure that insults me,
    and out of my understanding a spirit answers me.
⁴ Do you not know this from of old,
    ^(BX)since man was placed on earth,
^5 (BY)that the exulting of the wicked is short,
    and the joy of the godless but for a moment?
^6 (BZ)Though his height mount up to the heavens,
    and his head reach to the clouds,
⁷ he will perish forever like his own ^(CA)dung;
    those who have seen him will say, ^(CB)‘Where is he?’
⁸ He will fly away like ^(CC)a dream and not be found;
    he will be chased away like a vision of the night.
^9 (CD)The eye that saw him will see him no more,
    nor will his place any more behold him.
¹⁰ His children will seek the favor of the poor,
    and his hands will ^(CE)give back his wealth.
¹¹ His bones are full of his ^(CF)youthful vigor,
    but it will lie ^(CG)down with him in the dust.

¹² “Though evil is sweet in his mouth,
    though he hides it ^(CH)under his tongue,
¹³ though he is loath to let it go
    and holds it in his mouth,
¹⁴ yet his food is turned in his stomach;
    it is the venom of ^(CI)cobras within him.
¹⁵ He swallows down riches and vomits them up again;
    God casts them out of his belly.
¹⁶ He will suck the poison of cobras;
    ^(CJ)the tongue of a viper will kill him.
¹⁷ He will not look upon ^(CK)the rivers,
    the streams flowing with ^(CL)honey and ^(CM)curds.
¹⁸ He will ^(CN)give back the fruit of his toil
    and will not ^(CO)swallow it down;
from the profit of his trading
    he will get no enjoyment.
¹⁹ For he has crushed and abandoned the poor;
    he has seized a house that he did not build.

²⁰ “Because he ^(CP)knew no ^(CQ)contentment in his belly,
    ^(CR)he will not let anything in which he delights escape him.
²¹ There was nothing left after he had eaten;
    therefore his prosperity will not endure.
²² In the fullness of his sufficiency he will be in distress;
    the hand of everyone in misery will come against him.
²³ To fill his belly to the full,
    God^[g] will send his burning anger against him
    and rain it upon him ^(CS)into his body.
^24 (CT)He will flee from an iron weapon;
    ^(CU)a bronze arrow will strike ^(CV)him through.
²⁵ It ^(CW)is drawn forth and comes out of his body;
    ^(CX)the glittering point comes out of his ^(CY)gallbladder;
    ^(CZ)terrors come upon him.
²⁶ Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures;
    ^(DA)a fire not fanned will devour him;
    what is left in his tent will be consumed.
^27 (DB)The heavens will reveal his iniquity,
    and the earth will rise up against him.
²⁸ The possessions of his house will be carried away,
    dragged off in the day of God's^[h] wrath.
^29 (DC)This is the wicked man's portion from God,
    ^(DD)the heritage decreed for him by God.”