Hiob 17 | New International Reader’s Version

1 My strength is almost gone. I won’t live much longer. A grave is waiting for me. 2 People who make fun of me are all around me. I’m forced to watch as they attack me with their words. 3 ‘God, please pay the price to let me be set free. Who else would put up money for me? 4 You have closed the minds of those who are trying to comfort me. They don’t understand that I haven’t done anything wrong. So don’t let them win the argument. 5 Suppose someone tells lies about their friends to get a reward. Then their own children will suffer for it. 6 ‘God has made an example of me. People spit in my face. 7 My eyes have grown weak because I’m so sad. My body is so thin it hardly casts a shadow. 8 People who claim to be honest are shocked when they see me. Those who think they haven’t sinned are stirred up against me. They think I’m ungodly. 9 But godly people will keep doing what is right. Those who have clean hands will grow stronger. 10 ‘Come on, all of you! Try again! I can’t find a wise person among you. 11 My life is almost over. My plans are destroyed. Yet the desires of my heart 12 turn night into day. Even though it’s dark, “Light is nearby.” 13 Suppose the only home I can hope for is a grave. And suppose I make my bed in the darkness of death. 14 Suppose I say to the grave, “You are like a father to me.” And suppose I say to its worms, “You are like a mother or sister to me.” 15 Then what hope do I have? Who can give me any hope? 16 Will hope go down to the gates of death with me? Will we go down together into the dust of the grave?’

English Standard Version

Job Continues: Where Then Is My Hope?

1 “My spirit is broken; my days are extinct; the graveyard is ready for me. 2 Surely there are mockers about me, and my eye dwells on their provocation. 3 “Lay down a pledge for me with you; who is there who will put up security for me? 4 Since you have closed their hearts to understanding, therefore you will not let them triumph. 5 He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property— the eyes of his children will fail. 6 “He has made me a byword of the peoples, and I am one before whom men spit. 7 My eye has grown dim from vexation, and all my members are like a shadow. 8 The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless. 9 Yet the righteous holds to his way, and he who has clean hands grows stronger and stronger. 10 But you, come on again, all of you, and I shall not find a wise man among you. 11 My days are past; my plans are broken off, the desires of my heart. 12 They make night into day: ‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’* 13 If I hope for Sheol as my house, if I make my bed in darkness, 14 if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’ 15 where then is my hope? Who will see my hope? 16 Will it go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust?”*

Hiob 17 | New International Reader’s Version English Standard Version

Job Continues: Where Then Is My Hope?