Job 17

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My spirit is broken.
My days are extinguished.
A graveyard^(A) awaits me.

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Surely mockers surround^(a) me
and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.^(B)

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Make arrangements! Put up security for me.^(b)^(C)
Who else will be my sponsor?^(c)

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You have closed their minds to understanding,
therefore You will not honor them.

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If a man informs on his friends for a price,
the eyes of his children will fail.

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He has made me an object of scorn to the people;
I have become a man people spit at.^(d)^(D)

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My eyes have grown dim from grief,
and my whole body has become but a shadow.

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The upright are appalled^(E) at this,
and the innocent are roused against the godless.

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Yet the righteous person will hold to his way,
and the one whose hands are clean^(F) will grow stronger.

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But come back and try again, all of you.^(e)
I will not find a wise man among you.

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My days have slipped by;
my plans have been ruined,
even the things dear to my heart.

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They turned night into day
and made light seem near in the face of darkness.^(G)

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If I await Sheol as my home,
spread out my bed in darkness,

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and say to corruption: You are my father,
and to the maggot: My mother or my sister,^(H)

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where then is my hope?^(I)
Who can see any hope for me?

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Will it go down to the gates of Sheol,^(J)
or will we descend together to the dust?

Footnotes:

a. Job 17:2: Lit are with

b. Job 17:3: Lit me with You

c. Job 17:3: Lit Who is there that will strike himself into my hand

d. Job 17:6: Lit become a spitting to the faces

e. Job 17:10: Some Hb mss, LXX, Vg; other Hb mss read them

Cross references:

A. Job 17:1: Job 3:22; Job 5:26; Job 10:19

B. Job 17:2: Psalm 22:7; Psalm 119:51; Jeremiah 20:7

C. Job 17:3: Genesis 43:9; Psalm 119:122; Proverbs 6:1

D. Job 17:6: Numbers 12:14; Isaiah 50:6; Matthew 27:30

E. Job 17:8: Job 18:20; Job 21:5; Daniel 4:19

F. Job 17:9: Job 22:30; Psalm 24:4

G. Job 17:12: Job 11:17; Psalm 37:6; Isaiah 58:8; Isaiah 58:10

H. Job 17:14: Job 3:15; Job 30:23; Ecclesiastes 12:5

I. Job 17:15: Job 7:6; Job 14:19; Job 19:10

J. Job 17:16: Job 7:9; Job 11:8; Job 14:13