Job 17

¹My spirit hath been destroyed, My days extinguished—graves are for me. ²If not—mockeries are with me. And in their provocations mine eye lodgeth. ³Place, I pray Thee, my pledge with Thee; Who is he that striketh hand with me? ⁴For their heart Thou hast hidden From understanding, Therefore Thou dost not exalt them. ⁵For a portion he sheweth friendship, And the eyes of his sons are consumed. ⁶And he set me up for a proverb of the peoples, And a wonder before them I am. ⁷And dim from sorrow is mine eye, And my members as a shadow all of them. ⁸Astonished are the upright at this, And the innocent against the profane Stirreth himself up. ⁹And the righteous layeth hold on his way, And the clean of hands addeth strength, And—dumb are they all.

¹⁰Return, and come in, I pray you, And I find not among you a wise man. ¹¹My days have passed by, My devices have been broken off, The possessions of my heart! ¹²Night for day they appoint, Light is near because of darkness. ¹³If I wait—Sheol is my house, In darkness I have spread out my couch. ¹⁴To corruption I have called:—‘Thou art my father.’ ‘My mother’ and ‘my sister’—to the worm. ¹⁵And where is now my hope? Yea, my hope, who doth behold it? ¹⁶To the parts of Sheol ye go down, If together on the dust we may rest.

Chapter 18