Job 17

Job’s Fifth Speech, Continued

1 “My spirit is pulled down; my days are extinguished;
the graveyard is for me.
2 ⌞Surely⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “If not”} mockery is with me,
and my eye ⌞rests⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “spends the night”} on their provocation.
3 Please lay down a pledge for me with yourself;
who is he who will give security for my hand? ^{▼▼Or “who will give security for me?”}
4 Indeed, ^{▼▼Or “For”} you have closed their mind from understanding;
therefore, you will not let them triumph.
5 He denounces friends for reward,
so ^{▼▼Hebrew “and”} his children’s eyes will fail.
6 “And he has made me a proverb for ^{▼▼Hebrew “of”} the peoples,
⌞and I am one before whom people spit⌟. ^{▼▼Literally “and spitting to the faces I am”}
7 And my eye has grown dim from grief,
and the limbs of my body are all ^{▼▼Hebrew “all of them”} like a shadow.
8 The upright are appalled at this,
and the innocent excites himself over the godless.
9 But ^{▼▼Hebrew “And”} the righteous holds on to his way,
and ⌞he who has clean hands⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “the clean of hands”} increases in strength.
10 But ^{▼▼Literally “And but”} ⌞all of you must return⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “all of them you must return”}—⌞please come⌟! ^{▼▼Literally “and please come,” or “come on!”}
But ^{▼▼Hebrew “And”} I shall not find a wise person among you.
11 “My days are past; my plans are broken down—
even the desires of my heart.
12 They make night into day,
saying, ‘Light is ⌞near to darkness⌟.’ ^{▼▼Literally “near from the faces of darkness”}
13 If I hope for Sheol as my house,
if I spread my couch in the darkness,
14 if I call to the pit, ‘You are my father,’
to the maggot, ‘You are my mother or ^{▼▼Or “and”} my sister,’
15 where ^{▼▼Hebrew “and where”} then is my hope?
And ⌞who will see my hope⌟? ^{▼▼Literally “my hope who will see it”}
16 Will they go down to the bars of Sheol?
Or shall we descend together into the dust?”