Job 17

English Standard Version

³ “Lay down a pledge for me with you;
    who is there who will put up ^(D)security for me?
⁴ Since you have closed their hearts to understanding,
    therefore you will not let them triumph.
⁵ He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property—
    the ^(E)eyes of his children will fail.

⁶ “He has made me ^(F)a byword of the peoples,
    and I am one before whom men spit.
⁷ My ^(G)eye has grown dim from vexation,
    and all my members are like ^(H)a shadow.
⁸ The upright are ^(I)appalled at this,
    and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless.
⁹ Yet the righteous holds to his way,
    and he who has ^(J)clean hands grows stronger and stronger.
¹⁰ But you, ^(K)come on again, all of you,
    and I shall not find a wise man among you.
¹¹ My ^(L)days are past; my plans are broken off,
    the desires of my heart.
¹² They ^(M)make night into day:
    ‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’^[a]
13 If I hope for ^(N)Sheol as ^(O)my house,
    if I make my bed in darkness,
¹⁴ if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’
    and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
¹⁵ where then is my hope?
    Who will see my hope?
¹⁶ Will it go down to the bars of ^(P)Sheol?
    Shall we ^(Q)descend together ^(R)into the dust?”^[b]