Job 17

Evangelical Heritage Version

17 My spirit is broken.
My days are snuffed out.
The tomb is waiting for me.
² Surely mockery closes in on me.
My eyes must live with my enemies’ bitter contempt.

³ Please pay for me the deposit that you require from me.
Indeed, who else could guarantee this payment for me?

⁴ You have hidden understanding from their hearts.
Therefore, you will not let them win.
⁵ If someone denounces friends for a payoff,
his children’s eyes will fail.

⁶ He has made me a laughingstock among the people.
They spit in my face.
⁷ My vision is blurry from grief.
I am just a shadow of myself.
⁸ The upright are appalled at this,
and the innocent are aroused against the godless.
⁹ In spite of it all, the righteous hold tight to their ways,
and everyone with clean hands grows stronger.

¹⁰ All right then—all of you, please come and try again,
but I will not find a wise man among you.
¹¹ My days have passed.
All the things I planned to do are ripped apart,
including the deepest desires of my heart.

¹² They turn night into day.
In the face of darkness, they claim light is near.

¹³ If I wait hopefully for the grave to become my house,
if I spread out my bed in the darkness,
¹⁴ if I cry out to the pit, “You are my father,”
and to the worm, “My mother” or “My sister,”
¹⁵ where then is my hope?
Who can find any hope for me?
¹⁶ Will it go down with me to the barred gates of the grave?
Will we rest in the dust together?