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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 A number of years will surely pass,
    and then I’ll walk a path that I won’t return.

Another lament

17 My spirit is broken,
    my days extinguished,
    the grave,[a] mine.
Surely mockers are with me,
    and my eye looks on their rebellion.
Take my guarantee.
    Who else is willing to make an agreement?
You’ve closed their mind to insight;
    therefore, you won’t be exalted.
He denounces his friends for gain,
    and his children’s eyes fail.
He makes me a popular proverb;
    I’m like spit in people’s faces.
My eye is weak from grief;
    my limbs like a shadow—all of them.
Those who do the right thing are amazed at this;
    the guiltless become troubled about the godless.
The innocent clings to his way;
    the one whose hands are clean grows stronger.

Footnotes

  1. Job 17:1 Or graves