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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.

22 For when only a few years have elapsed,
    I’ll start down a path from which I’ll never return.”

Job Laments and Prepares for Death

17 “My spirit is crushed,
    my days are over;[a]
        it’s the grave for me!
Mockers surround me;
    I cannot stop staring at their hostility all through the night.
Offer, then, some collateral on my behalf.
    Is there anyone who will be my guarantor?

“Because you’re the one who closed their hearts to compassion;[b]
    therefore, you won’t let them triumph.
Now as for the one who testifies against his friends
    to take their property,[c]
        even the eyes of his children will fail.

“He has made me a byword among people;
    I’m being spit on in the face.
My eyes have grown weak from grief;
    and my whole body is as thin as a shadow.
The upright are appalled over this,
    and the innocent person is troubled by the godless.
But the righteous person will hold to his way,
    and those with clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.”

Footnotes

  1. Job 17:1 Lit. extinguished
  2. Job 17:4 Lit. understanding
  3. Job 17:5 Or inheritance