Job 17

Job’s Fifth Speech, Continued

1 "My spirit is pulled down; my days are extinguished;

the graveyard is for me.

2 Surely*Literally "If not" mockery is with me,

and my eye rests*Literally "spends the night" on their provocation.

3 Please lay down a pledge for me with yourself;

who is he who will give security for my hand?*Or "who will give security for me?"

4 Indeed,*Or "For" you have closed their mind from understanding;

therefore, you will not let them triumph.

5 He denounces friends for reward,

so*Hebrew "and" his children’s eyes will fail.

6 "And he has made me a proverb for*Hebrew "of" the peoples,

and I am one before whom people spit.*Literally "and spitting to the faces I am"

7 And my eye has grown dim from grief,

and the limbs of my body are all*Hebrew "all of them" like a shadow.

8 The upright are appalled at this,

and the innocent excites himself over the godless.

9 But*Hebrew "And" the righteous holds on to his way,

and he who has clean hands*Literally "the clean of hands" increases in strength.

10 But*Literally "And but" all of you must return*Literally "all of them you must return"—please come!*Literally "and please come," or "come on!"

But*Hebrew "And" I shall not find a wise person among you.

11 "My days are past; my plans are broken down—

even the desires of my heart.

12 They make night into day,

saying, ‘Light is near to darkness.’*Literally "near from the faces of darkness"

13 If I hope for Sheol as my house,

if I spread my couch in the darkness,

14 if I call to the pit, ‘You are my father,’

to the maggot, ‘You are my mother or*Or "and" my sister,’

15 where*Hebrew "and where" then is my hope?

And who will see my hope?*Literally "my hope who will see it"

16 Will they go down to the bars of Sheol?

Or shall we descend together into the dust?"