Job 17

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

1My spirit shall be wasted, my days shall be shortened and only the grave remaineth for me.

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

2I have not sinned, and my eye abideth in bitterness.

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

3Deliver me, O Lord, and set me beside thee, and let any man's hand fight against me.

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

4Thou hast set their heart far from understanding, therefore they shall not be exalted.

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

5He promiseth a prey to his companions, and the eyes of his children shall fail.

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

6He hath made me as it were a byword of the people, and I am an example before them.

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

7My eye is dim through indignation, and my limbs are brought as it were to nothing.

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

8The just shall be astonished at this, and the innocent shall be raised up against the hypocrite.

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

9And the just man shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.

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

10Wherefore be you all converted, and come, and I shall not find among you any wise man.

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

11My days have passed away, my thoughts are dissipated, tormenting my heart.

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

12They have turned night into day, and after darkness I hope for light again.

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

13If I wait hell is my house, and I have made my bed in darkness.

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

14I have said to rottenness: Thou art my father; to worms, my mother and my sister.

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

15Where is now then my expectation, and who considereth my patience?

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

16All that I have shall go down into the deepest pit: thinkest thou that there at least I shall have rest?