Job 17

1My spirit is broken, my days are snuffed out; the grave is waiting for me. 2Surely mockers surround me, and my eye must dwell on their taunts. 3Please lay down a pledge for me; stand surety for me with yourself. Who else will shake hands to back me? 4For you have closed their minds to understanding; therefore you will not let them triumph. 5Whoever betrays friends for a share of the spoil, the eyes of that person’s children will fail. 6He has made me a byword among the peoples, someone people spit on in the face. 7My eye has grown dim with grief, and my whole body is like a shadow. 8Upright people are appalled at this, and the innocent are stirred up against the godless. 9The righteous hold to their way, and those with clean hands grow stronger and stronger. 10But come on, all of you, try again; I will not find a wise person among you. 11My days are over; my plans are torn apart, the longings of my heart. 12They turn night into day: “Light is near,” they say, in the face of darkness. 13If I look for Sheol as my home, if I spread out my bed in the dark, 14if I say to the pit, “You are my father,” and to the worm, “My mother and my sister,” 15Where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me? 16Will my hope go down to the gates of Sheol? Shall we sink into the dust together?