Job 17-18
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Job Prays for Relief
17 “My spirit is broken; my days are extinct;
the grave is ready for me.(A)
2 Surely there are mockers around me,
and my eye dwells on their provocation.(B)
3 “Lay down a pledge for me with yourself;
who is there who will give surety for me?(C)
4 Since you have closed their minds to understanding,
therefore you will not let them triumph.(D)
5 Those who denounce friends for reward—
the eyes of their children will fail.(E)
6 “He has made me a byword of the peoples,
and I am one before whom people spit.(F)
7 My eye has grown dim from grief,
and all my members are like a shadow.(G)
8 The upright are appalled at this,
and the innocent stir themselves up against the godless.
9 Yet the righteous hold to their way,
and they who have clean hands grow stronger and stronger.(H)
10 But you, come back now, all of you,
and I shall not find a sensible person among you.
11 My days are past; my plans are broken off,
the desires of my heart.(I)
12 They make night into day;
‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’[a]
13 If I look for Sheol as my house,
if I spread my couch in darkness,(J)
14 if I say to the Pit, ‘You are my father,’
and to the worm, ‘My mother’ or ‘My sister,’(K)
15 where then is my hope?
Who will see my hope?(L)
16 Will it go down to the bars of Sheol?
Shall we descend together into the dust?”(M)
Bildad Speaks: God Punishes the Wicked
18 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2 “How long will you hunt for words?
Consider, and then we shall speak.
3 Why are we counted as cattle?
Why are we stupid in your sight?(N)
4 You who tear yourself in your anger—
shall the earth be forsaken because of you
or the rock be removed out of its place?(O)
5 “Surely the light of the wicked is put out,
and the flame of their fire does not shine.(P)
6 The light is dark in their tent,
and the lamp above them is put out.
7 Their strong steps are shortened,
and their own schemes throw them down.(Q)
8 For they are thrust into a net by their own feet,
and they walk into a pitfall.(R)
9 A trap seizes them by the heel;
a snare lays hold of them.(S)
10 A rope is hid for them in the ground,
a trap for them in the path.(T)
11 Terrors frighten them on every side
and chase them at their heels.(U)
12 Their strength is consumed by hunger,[b]
and calamity is ready for their stumbling.(V)
13 By disease their skin is consumed;[c]
the firstborn of Death consumes their limbs.
14 They are torn from the tent in which they trusted
and are brought to the king of terrors.(W)
15 In their tents nothing remains;
sulfur is scattered upon their habitations.(X)
16 Their roots dry up beneath,
and their branches wither above.(Y)
17 Their memory perishes from the earth,
and they have no name in the street.(Z)
18 They are thrust from light into darkness
and driven out of the world.
19 They have no offspring or descendant among their people
and no survivor where they used to live.(AA)
20 They of the west are appalled at their fate,
and horror seizes those of the east.
21 Surely such are the dwellings of the ungodly;
such is the place of those who do not know God.”(AB)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.