Job 17

1My spirit is consumed, my days are extinct, The grave isreadyfor me.

1My spirit is broken, my days are finished, and the grave is waiting for me.

2Surely there are mockers with me, And mine eye dwelleth upon their provocation.

2I am surrounded by people who mock me; I am forced to watch them insult me.

3Give now a pledge, be surety for me with thyself; Who is there that will strike hands with me?

3Give me a guarantee, God; stand as a witness for me yourself. Who else will support me?

4For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: Therefore shalt thou not exalt them.

4You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore, you will not let them triumph.

5He that denounceth his friends for a prey, Even the eyes of his children shall fail.

5If someone informs against his friends for money, his children’s eyesight will fail.

6But he hath made me a byword of the people; And they spit in my face.

6God has made my name a joke to everyone; people spit in my face.

7Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, And all my members are as a shadow.

7My eyes have grown dim from grief, and my whole body is as thin as a shadow.

8Upright men shall be astonished at this, And the innocent shall stir up himself against the godless.

8Honest people are shocked by this; the innocent are stirred up against the ungodly.

9Yet shall the righteous hold on his way, And he that hath clean hands shall wax stronger and stronger.

9Yet the righteous will keep going on their way, and those with clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.

10But as for you all, come on now again; And I shall not find a wise man among you.

10But as for all of you, try again; I won't find a single wise man among you.

11My days are past, my purposes are broken off, Even the thoughts of my heart.

11My days are finished, my plans are shattered, and the desires of my heart are gone.

12They change the night into day: The light, say they, is near unto the darkness.

12These men claim that night is day; they say light is near when everything is dark.

13If I look for Sheol as my house; If I have spread my couch in the darkness;

13If the grave is the only home I look for, and if I spread my bed in the darkness,

14If I have said to corruption, Thou art my father; To the worm, Thou artmy mother, and my sister;

14if I say to the grave, 'You are my father,' and to the worm, 'You are my mother and sister,'

15Where then is my hope? And as for my hope, who shall see it?

15where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?

16It shall go down to the bars of Sheol, When once there is rest in the dust.

16Will it go down to the gates of death? Will we rest together in the dust?