Job Says He Has Become a Proverb

17 “My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished,
The [a](A)grave is ready for me.
(B)Mockers are certainly with me,
And my eye [b]gazes on their provocation.

“Make a pledge (C)for me with Yourself;
Who is there that will [c]be my guarantor?
For You have [d](D)kept their hearts away from understanding;
Therefore You will not exalt them.
He who (E)informs against friends for a share of the spoils,
The (F)eyes of his children also will perish.

“But He has made me a (G)proverb among the people,
And I am [e]one at whom people (H)spit.
My eye has also become (I)inexpressive because of grief,
And all my (J)body parts are like a shadow.
The upright will be appalled at this,
And the (K)innocent will stir himself up against the godless.
Nevertheless (L)the righteous will hold to his way,
And (M)the one who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.
10 But come again all of [f]you now,
For I (N)do not find a wise man among you.
11 My (O)days are past, my plans are torn apart,
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 [g](P)Sheol as my home,
I [h]make my bed in the darkness;
14 If I call to the (Q)grave, ‘You are my father’;
To the (R)maggot, ‘my mother and my sister’;
15 Where then is (S)my hope?
And who looks at my hope?
16 [i]Will it go down with me to Sheol?
Shall we together (T)go down into the dust?”

Footnotes

  1. Job 17:1 Lit graves are
  2. Job 17:2 Lit dwells
  3. Job 17:3 Lit strike hands with me
  4. Job 17:4 Lit hidden
  5. Job 17:6 Lit a spitting to the faces
  6. Job 17:10 As in some mss and ancient versions; MT them
  7. Job 17:13 I.e., the netherworld
  8. Job 17:13 Lit spread out
  9. Job 17:16 As in LXX; Heb possibly Let my limbs sink down to Sheol, since there is rest in the dust for all.

17 My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me.

Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation?

Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me?

For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt them.

He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.

He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret.

Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.

Upright men shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite.

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.