Job 17-18

English Standard Version

³ “Lay down a pledge for me with you;
    who is there who will put up ^(D)security for me?
⁴ Since you have closed their hearts to understanding,
    therefore you will not let them triumph.
⁵ He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property—
    the ^(E)eyes of his children will fail.

⁶ “He has made me ^(F)a byword of the peoples,
    and I am one before whom men spit.
⁷ My ^(G)eye has grown dim from vexation,
    and all my members are like ^(H)a shadow.
⁸ The upright are ^(I)appalled at this,
    and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless.
⁹ Yet the righteous holds to his way,
    and he who has ^(J)clean hands grows stronger and stronger.
¹⁰ But you, ^(K)come on again, all of you,
    and I shall not find a wise man among you.
¹¹ My ^(L)days are past; my plans are broken off,
    the desires of my heart.
¹² They ^(M)make night into day:
    ‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’^[a]
13 If I hope for ^(N)Sheol as ^(O)my house,
    if I make my bed in darkness,
¹⁴ if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’
    and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
¹⁵ where then is my hope?
    Who will see my hope?
¹⁶ Will it go down to the bars of ^(P)Sheol?
    Shall we ^(Q)descend together ^(R)into the dust?”^[b]

² “How long will you ^(T)hunt for words?
    Consider, and then we will speak.
³ Why are we counted as ^(U)cattle?
    Why are we stupid in your sight?
⁴ You who ^(V)tear yourself in your anger,
    shall the earth be forsaken for you,
    or ^(W)the rock be removed out of its place?

⁵ “Indeed, ^(X)the light of the wicked is put out,
    and the flame of his fire does not shine.
⁶ The light is ^(Y)dark in his tent,
    and his lamp above him is put out.
⁷ His strong steps are shortened,
    and his ^(Z)own schemes throw him down.
⁸ For he is cast into a net by his own feet,
    and he walks on its mesh.
^9 (AA)A trap seizes him by the heel;
    a snare lays hold of him.
¹⁰ A rope is hidden for him in the ground,
    a trap for him in the path.
^11 (AB)Terrors frighten him on every side,
    and chase him at his heels.
¹² His strength is famished,
    and calamity is ^(AC)ready for his stumbling.
¹³ It consumes the parts of his skin;
    ^(AD)the firstborn of death consumes his limbs.
¹⁴ He is torn from the tent in which he trusted
    and is brought to ^(AE)the king of terrors.
¹⁵ In his tent dwells that which is none of his;
    ^(AF)sulfur is scattered over his habitation.
¹⁶ His ^(AG)roots dry up beneath,
    and his branches ^(AH)wither above.
¹⁷ His ^(AI)memory perishes from the earth,
    and he has no name in the street.
^18 (AJ)He is thrust from light into darkness,
    and driven out of the world.
¹⁹ He has no ^(AK)posterity or progeny among his people,
    and no survivor where he used to live.
²⁰ They of the west are appalled at his ^(AL)day,
    and ^(AM)horror seizes them of the east.
²¹ Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous,
    such is the place of him who ^(AN)knows not God.”