Job 17

17 ¹ My spirit is broken, my days are snuffed out, the grave is ready for me. ² Surely mockers surround me, and my eyes cannot look away from their taunting.

³ Put up a pledge for me with yourself; who else will give their word as my guarantor? ^a a v3 Job appeals to God to be his own guarantor before God — the only one left who can stand up for him. ⁴ For you have closed their minds to understanding; therefore you will not let them triumph. ⁵ One who denounces friends for personal gain — the eyes of his children will fail.

⁶ He has made me a byword among the peoples, someone they spit in the face. ⁷ My eye has grown dim from grief, and all my limbs are like a shadow. ⁸ The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent is roused against the godless. ⁹ Yet the righteous holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger and stronger.

¹⁰ But come back, all of you, come now — I find not one wise man among you. ¹¹ My days are past, my plans are broken off, and with them the desires of my heart. ¹² They turn night into day; "light," they say, "is near" — in the face of darkness. ¹³ If I hope for the grave as my house, if I spread my bed in the darkness, ¹⁴ if I call to the pit, "You are my father," and to the worm, "My mother" and "My sister," ¹⁵ where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me? ¹⁶ Will it go down to the gates of the grave? Shall we descend together into the dust?