Job 17
Complete Jewish Bible
17 “My spirit is broken, my days are quenched,
I am marked for the grave.
2 Mockers are all around me;
my eye meets only their hostility.
3 Be my guarantor, yourself!
Who else will put up a pledge for me?
4 For you have shut their minds to common sense;
therefore you will not let them triumph.
5 Should people share with their friends
when their own children’s eyes are so sad?
6 “He has made me a byword among the peoples,
a creature in whose face they spit.
7 I am nearly blind with grief,
my limbs reduced to a shadow.
8 The upright are perplexed at this,
the innocent aroused against the hypocrites.
9 Yet the righteous hold on to their way,
and those with clean hands grow stronger and stronger.
10 “But as for you all, turn around! Come back! —
yet I won’t find a wise man among you.
11 My days are over, my plans cut off,
which I had cherished so;
12 but they [try to] turn [my] night into day,
[saying,] ‘Light is near!’ — in the face of darkness.
13 “If I hope for Sh’ol to be my house;
if I spread my couch in the dark;
14 if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’
and to worms, ‘You are my mother and sister,’
15 then where is my hope?
And that hope of mine, who will see it?
16 Only those who go down with me
to the bars of Sh’ol,
when we rest together in the dust.”
Job 17
Legacy Standard Bible
Job Seeks Hope
17 “My spirit is broken; my days are extinguished;
The [a](A)grave is ready for me.
2 (B)Surely mockers are with me,
And my eye [b]gazes on their provocation.
3 “Establish, now, a pledge (C)for me with Yourself;
Who is there that will clap my hand in pledge?
4 For You have (D)hidden their heart from insight,
Therefore You will not exalt them.
5 He who (E)informs against friends for a share of the spoil,
The (F)eyes of his children also will come to an end.
6 “But He has made me a (G)byword of the people,
And I am [c]one at whom men (H)spit.
7 My eye has also grown (I)dim because of grief,
And all my (J)members are as a shadow.
8 The upright will be appalled at this,
And the (K)innocent will stir up himself against the godless.
9 Nevertheless (L)the righteous will hold to his way,
And (M)he who has clean hands will grow mightier and mightier.
10 But come again all of [d]you now,
For I (N)do not find a wise man among you.
11 My (O)days are past; my plans are torn apart,
Even the wishes of my heart.
12 They make night into day, saying,
‘The light is near,’ in the presence of darkness.
13 If I hope for (P)Sheol as my home,
I [e]make my bed in the darkness;
14 If I call to the (Q)pit, ‘You are my father’;
To the (R)worm, ‘my mother and my sister’;
15 Where now is (S)my hope?
And who beholds my hope?
16 [f]Will it go down with me to Sheol?
Shall we together (T)go down into the dust?”
Job 17
King James Version
17 My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me.
2 Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation?
3 Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me?
4 For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt them.
5 He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.
6 He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret.
7 Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.
8 Upright men shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite.
9 The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.
10 But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you.
11 My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.
12 They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.
13 If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.
14 I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.
15 And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?
16 They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.
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