Job 17:1-16

17:1 My spirit is broken,

my days have faded out,

the grave awaits me.

17:2 Surely mockery is with me;

my eyes must dwell on their hostility.

17:3 Make then my pledge with you.

Who else will put up security for me?

17:4 Because you have closed their minds to understanding,

therefore you will not exalt them.

17:5 If a man denounces his friends for personal gain,

the eyes of his children will fail.

17:6 He has made me a byword to people,

I am the one in whose face they spit.

17:7 My eyes have grown dim with grief;

my whole frame is but a shadow.

17:8 Upright men are appalled at this;

the innocent man is troubled with the godless.

17:9 But the righteous man holds to his way,

and the one with clean hands grows stronger.

Anticipation of Death

17:10 “But turn, all of you, and come now!

I will not find a wise man among you.

17:11 My days have passed, my plans are shattered,

even the desires of my heart.

17:12 These men change night into day;

they say, ‘The light is near

in the face of darkness.’

17:13 If I hope for the grave to be my home,

if I spread out my bed in darkness,

17:14 If I cry to corruption, ‘You are my father,’

and to the worm, ‘My Mother,’ or ‘My sister,’

17:15 where then is my hope?

And my hope, who sees it?

17:16 Will it go down to the barred gates of death?

Will we descend together into the dust?”