Job 17

1 My spirit is broken.

My days are extinguished.

A graveyard  * 17:1 Jb 3:22; 5:26; 10:19 awaits me.

2 Surely mockers surround  * 17:2 Lit are with  me,

and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.  * 17:2 Ps 22:7; 119:51; Jr 20:7

3 Accept my pledge! Put up security for me.  * 17:3 Gn 43:9; Ps 119:122; Pr 6:1

Who else will be my sponsor?  * 17:3 Or Who is there that will shake hands with me?

4 You have closed their minds to understanding,

therefore you will not honor them.

5 If a man denounces his friends for a price,

the eyes of his children will fail.

6 He has made me an object of scorn to the people;

I have become a man people spit at.  * 17:6 Lit become a spitting to the faces,* 17:6 Nm 12:14; Is 50:6; Mt 27:30

7 My eyes have grown dim from grief,

and my whole body has become but a shadow.

8 The upright are appalled  * 17:8 Jb 18:20; 21:5; Dn 4:19 at this,

and the innocent are roused against the godless.

9 Yet the righteous person will hold to his way,

and the one whose hands are clean  * 17:9 2Sm 22:21; Jb 22:30; Ps 24:4 will grow stronger.

10 But come back and try again, all of you.  * 17:10 Some Hb mss, LXX, Vg; other Hb mss read them

I will not find a wise man among you.

11 My days have slipped by;

my plans have been ruined,

even the things dear to my heart.

12 They turned night into day

and made light seem near in the face of darkness.  * 17:12 Jb 11:17; Ps 37:6; Is 58:8,10

13 If I await Sheol as my home,

spread out my bed in darkness,

14 and say to corruption, "You are my father,"

and to the maggot, "My mother" or "My sister,"  * 17:14 Jb 3:15; 30:23; Ec 12:5

15 where then is my hope?  * 17:15 Jb 7:6; 14:19; 19:10

Who can see any hope for me?

16 Will it go down to the gates of Sheol,  * 17:16 Jb 7:9; 11:8; 14:13

or will we descend together to the dust?