Job 17

1 My spirit is broken.

My days are extinguished.
A graveyard ^a awaits me.
2 Surely mockers surround ^{▼▼Lit are with} me
and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion. ^c

3 Make arrangements! Put up security for me. ^{▼▼Lit me with You
,} ^e
Who else will be my sponsor? ^{▼▼Lit Who is there that will strike himself into my hand}
4 You have closed their minds to understanding,
therefore You will not honor them.
5 If a man informs on 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. ^{▼▼Lit become a spitting to the faces
,} ^h
7 My eyes have grown dim from grief,
and my whole body has become but a shadow.
8 The upright are appalled ⁱ 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: When something is clean, it is holy or acceptable to God. When it is unclean, it is unholy (such as an unclean spirit). The term can be used in a ritual sense to apply to moral standards for living.}clean ^k will grow stronger.
10 But come back and try again, all of you. ^{▼▼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. ^m
13 If I await ^{▼▼Sheol: A Hebrew word for either the grave or the realm of the dead}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 ^o
15 where then is my hope? ^p
Who can see any hope for me?
16 Will it go down to the gates of Sheol ^q
or will we descend together to the dust?