Job 17  Living Bible

17 “I am sick and near to death; the grave is ready to receive me. ² I am surrounded by mockers. I see them everywhere. ^3-4 Will no one anywhere confirm my innocence? But you, O God, have kept them back from understanding this. Oh, do not let them triumph. ⁵ If they accept bribes to denounce their friends, their children shall go blind.

⁶ “He has made me a mockery among the people; they spit in my face. ⁷ My eyes are dim with weeping and I am but a shadow of my former self. ⁸ Fair-minded men are astonished when they see me.

“Yet, finally, the innocent shall come out on top, above the godless; ⁹ the righteous shall move onward and forward; those with pure hearts shall become stronger and stronger.

¹⁰ “As for you—all of you please go away; for I do not find a wise man among you. ¹¹ My good days are in the past. My hopes have disappeared. My heart’s desires are broken. ¹² They say that night is day and day is night; how they pervert the truth!

^13-14 “If I die, I go out into darkness, and call the grave my father, and the worm my mother and my sister. ¹⁵ Where then is my hope? Can anyone find any? ¹⁶ No, my hope will go down with me to the grave. We shall rest together in the dust!”