Job Chapter 17

            ¹ My spirit’s broken; my days are snuffed out;

                  people have already dug my grave.

            ² Mockers sit around

                  and taunt me to my face.                                      

Job 16:18-17:2

            ³ “God, sign a pledge for me;

                  who else will put up security for me?

            ⁴ You’ve kept them from understanding;

                  so don’t let them triumph.

            ⁵ They inform against their friends

                  to get a share of their property;

                  so let their children pass out from hunger.         

Job 17:3-5

            ⁶ “God has made me a byword among people;

                  I’m someone they spit at.

            ⁷ My sight is blurry from grieving;

                  my neighbors look like shadows.

            ⁸ Godly people are appalled at such a thing;

                  innocent people oppose the godless.

            ⁹ The righteous hold onto their way;

                  the ones with clean hands grow stronger.

Job 17:6-9

            ¹⁰ “All of you, if you come again,

                  I still won’t find a wise man among you.

            ¹¹ My days are done;

                  my hopes are dashed;

                        my heart’s desires are gone.

            ¹² You friends claim night is day and say,

                  ‘Light amounts to darkness.’

            ¹³ If I look for the grave to be my house

                        and spread my couch in the darkness,

                  ¹⁴ if I say to the pit, ‘My mother,’

                        or ‘My sister,’

                  ¹⁵ where’s my hope? 

                  Who even cares about my hope?

            ¹⁶ It’ll go down to Sheol with me;

                  we’ll go down in the ground together.”              

Job 17:10-16