Job 17
Common English Bible
Another lament
17 My spirit is broken,
my days extinguished,
the grave,[a] mine.
2 Surely mockers are with me,
and my eye looks on their rebellion.
3 Take my guarantee.
Who else is willing to make an agreement?
4 You’ve closed their mind to insight;
therefore, you won’t be exalted.
5 He denounces his friends for gain,
and his children’s eyes fail.
6 He makes me a popular proverb;
I’m like spit in people’s faces.
7 My eye is weak from grief;
my limbs like a shadow—all of them.
8 Those who do the right thing are amazed at this;
the guiltless become troubled about the godless.
9 The innocent clings to his way;
the one whose hands are clean grows stronger.
10 But you can bring all of them again,
and I won’t find a wise one among you.
11 My days have passed;
my goals are destroyed, my heart’s desires.
12 They turn night into day;
light is near because of the darkness.
13 If I hope for the underworld[b] as my dwelling,
lay out my bed in darkness,
14 I’ve called corruption “my father,”
the worm, “my mother and sister.”
15 Where then is my hope?
My hope—who can see it?
16 Will they go down with me to the underworld;[c]
will we descend together to 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 © 2011 by Common English Bible