Job Says He Has Become a Proverb
17 “My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished,
The [a](A)grave is ready for me.
2 (B)Mockers are certainly with me,
And my eye [b]gazes on their provocation.
3 “Make a pledge (C)for me with Yourself;
Who is there that will [c]be my guarantor?
4 For You have [d](D)kept their hearts away from understanding;
Therefore You will not exalt them.
5 He who (E)informs against friends for a share of the spoils,
The (F)eyes of his children also will perish.
6 “But He has made me a (G)proverb among the people,
And I am [e]one at whom people (H)spit.
7 My eye has also become (I)inexpressive because of grief,
And all my (J)body parts are like a shadow.
8 The upright will be appalled at this,
And the (K)innocent will stir himself up against the godless.
9 Nevertheless (L)the righteous will hold to his way,
And (M)the one who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.
10 But come again all of [f]you now,
For I (N)do not find a wise man among you.
11 My (O)days are past, my plans are torn apart,
The wishes of my heart.
12 They make night into day, saying,
‘The light is near,’ in the presence of darkness.
13 If I hope for [g](P)Sheol as my home,
I [h]make my bed in the darkness;
14 If I call to the (Q)grave, ‘You are my father’;
To the (R)maggot, ‘my mother and my sister’;
15 Where then is (S)my hope?
And who looks at my hope?
16 [i]Will it go down with me to Sheol?
Shall we together (T)go down into the dust?”
Footnotes
- Job 17:1 Lit graves are
- Job 17:2 Lit dwells
- Job 17:3 Lit strike hands with me
- Job 17:4 Lit hidden
- Job 17:6 Lit a spitting to the faces
- Job 17:10 As in some mss and ancient versions; MT them
- Job 17:13 I.e., the netherworld
- Job 17:13 Lit spread out
- Job 17:16 As in LXX; Heb possibly Let my limbs sink down to Sheol, since there is rest in the dust for all.
Cross references
- Job 17:1 : Ps 88:3, 4
- Job 17:2 : Job 12:4; 17:6
- Job 17:3 : Ps 119:122; Is 38:14
- Job 17:4 : Job 12:20
- Job 17:5 : Lev 19:13, 16
- Job 17:5 : Job 11:20
- Job 17:6 : Job 17:2
- Job 17:6 : Job 30:10
- Job 17:7 : Job 16:16
- Job 17:7 : Job 16:8
- Job 17:8 : Job 22:19
- Job 17:9 : Prov 4:18
- Job 17:9 : Job 22:30; 31:7
- Job 17:10 : Job 12:2
- Job 17:11 : Job 7:6
- Job 17:13 : Job 3:13
- Job 17:14 : Job 7:5; 13:28; 30:30
- Job 17:14 : Job 21:26; 25:6
- Job 17:15 : Job 7:6
- Job 17:16 : Job 3:17; 21:33