| Chapter 17 |
1 |
"My spirit is consumed, my days are extinct, And the grave is ready for me. |
2 |
Surely there are mockers with me, My eye dwells on their provocation. |
3 |
"Now give a pledge, be collateral for me with yourself. Who is there who will strike hands with me? |
4 |
For you have hidden their heart from understanding, Therefore shall you not exalt them. |
5 |
He who denounces his friends for a prey, Even the eyes of his children shall fail. |
6 |
"But he has made me a byword of the people. They spit in my face. |
7 |
My eye also is dim by reason of sorrow. All my members are as a shadow. |
8 |
Upright men shall be astonished at this. The innocent shall stir up himself against the godless. |
9 |
Yet shall the righteous hold on his way. He who has clean hands shall grow stronger and stronger. |
10 |
But as for you all, come on now again; I shall not find a wise man among you. |
11 |
My days are past, my plans are broken off, As are the thoughts of my heart. |
12 |
They change the night into day, Saying `The light is near` in the presence of darkness. |
13 |
If I look for Sheol as my house, If I have spread my couch in the darkness, |
14 |
If I have said to corruption, `You are my father;` To the worm, `My mother,` and `my sister;` |
15 |
Where then is my hope? As for my hope, who shall see it? |
16 |
Shall it go down with me to the gates of Sheol, Or descend together into the dust?" |