Job 17

Job Says He Has Become a Byword

1“My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished, The 12grave is ready for me.23Surely mockers are with me, And my eye 4gazes on their provocation.

3“Lay down, now, a pledge 5for me with Yourself; Who is there that will 6be my guarantor?4For You have 78kept their heart from understanding, Therefore You will not exalt them.5He who 9informs against friends for a share of the spoil, The 10eyes of his children also will languish.

6“But He has made me a 11byword of the people, And I am 12one at whom men 13spit.7My eye has also grown 14dim because of grief, And all my 15members are as a shadow.8The upright will be appalled at this, And the 16innocent will stir up himself against the godless.9Nevertheless 17the righteous will hold to his way, And 18he who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.10But come again all of 19you now, For I 20do not find a wise man among you.11My 21days are past, my plans are torn apart, Even the wishes of my heart.12They make night into day, saying, ‘The light is near,’ in the presence of darkness.13If I look for 22Sheol as my home, I 23make my bed in the darkness;14If I call to the 24pit, ‘You are my father’; To the 25worm, ‘my mother and my sister’;15Where now is 26my hope? And who regards my hope?1627Will it go down with me to Sheol? Shall we together 28go down into the dust?”