Job 17 — NETB

17Verse 1My spirit is broken,
my days have faded out,
the grave awaits me.
^{Verse 2}Surely mockery is with me;
my eyes must dwell on their hostility.
^{Verse 3}Make then my pledge with you.
Who else will put up security for me?
^{Verse 4}Because you have closed their minds to understanding,
therefore you will not exalt them.
^{Verse 5}If a man denounces his friends for personal gain,
the eyes of his children will fail.
^{Verse 6}He has made me a byword to people,
I am the one in whose face they spit.
^{Verse 7}My eyes have grown dim with grief;
my whole frame is but a shadow.
^{Verse 8}Upright men are appalled at this;
the innocent man is troubled with the godless.
^{Verse 9}But the righteous man holds to his way,
and the one with clean hands grows stronger.

Anticipation of Death

^{Verse 10}“But turn, all of you, and come now!
I will not find a wise man among you.
^{Verse 11}My days have passed, my plans are shattered,
even the desires of my heart.
^{Verse 12}These men change night into day;
they say, ‘The light is near
in the face of darkness.’
^{Verse 13}If I hope for the grave to be my home,
if I spread out my bed in darkness,
^{Verse 14}If I cry to corruption, ‘You are my father,’
and to the worm, ‘My Mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
^{Verse 15}where then is my hope?
And my hope, who sees it?
^{Verse 16}Will it go down to the barred gates of death?
Will we descend together into the dust?”