NIV

Job 17

1<pb/><t>My spirit is broken,</t> <t>my days are cut short,</t> <t>the grave awaits me.</t>
2<t>Surely mockers surround me;</t> <t>my eyes must dwell on their hostility. <pb/></t>
3<t>“Give me, O God, the pledge you demand.</t> <t>Who else will put up security for me?</t>
4<t>You have closed their minds to understanding;</t> <t>therefore you will not let them triumph.</t>
5<t>If anyone denounces their friends for reward,</t> <t>the eyes of their children will fail. <pb/></t>
6<t>“God has made me a byword to everyone,</t> <t>a man in whose face people spit.</t>
7<t>My eyes have grown dim with grief;</t> <t>my whole frame is but a shadow.</t>
8<t>The upright are appalled at this;</t> <t>the innocent are aroused against the ungodly.</t>
9<t>Nevertheless, the righteous will hold to their ways,</t> <t>and those with clean hands will grow stronger. <pb/></t>
10<t>“But come on, all of you, try again!</t> <t>I will not find a wise man among you.</t>
11<t>My days have passed, my plans are shattered.</t> <t>Yet the desires of my heart</t>
12<t>turn night into day;</t> <t>in the face of the darkness light is near.</t>
13<t>If the only home I hope for is the grave,</t> <t>if I spread out my bed in the realm of darkness,</t>
14<t>if I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’</t> <t>and to the worm, ‘My mother’ or ‘My sister,’</t>
15<t>where then is my hope—</t> <t>who can see any hope for me?</t>
16<t>Will it go down to the gates of death?</t> <t>Will we descend together into the dust?”</t>