Study

a Bible passage

Click a verse to see commentary

Select a resource above

17. Job Replies

¹ My spirit is broken,
   my days are cut short,
   the grave awaits me.
² Surely mockers surround me;
   my eyes must dwell on their hostility.

    ³ “Give me, O God, the pledge you demand.
   Who else will put up security for me?
⁴ You have closed their minds to understanding;
   therefore you will not let them triumph.
⁵ If anyone denounces their friends for reward,
   the eyes of their children will fail.

    ⁶ “God has made me a byword to everyone,
   a man in whose face people spit.
⁷ My eyes have grown dim with grief;
   my whole frame is but a shadow.
⁸ The upright are appalled at this;
   the innocent are aroused against the ungodly.
⁹ Nevertheless, the righteous will hold to their ways,
   and those with clean hands will grow stronger.

    ¹⁰ “But come on, all of you, try again!
   I will not find a wise man among you.
¹¹ My days have passed, my plans are shattered.
   Yet the desires of my heart
¹² turn night into day;
   in the face of the darkness light is near.
¹³ If the only home I hope for is the grave,
   if I spread out my bed in the realm of darkness,
¹⁴ if I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’
   and to the worm, ‘My mother’ or ‘My sister,’
¹⁵ where then is my hope—
   who can see any hope for me?
¹⁶ Will it go down to the gates of death?
   Will we descend together into the dust?”