Job appeals from men to God
1 My spirit is broken.
My days are extinct,
and the grave is ready for me.
2 Surely there are mockers with me.
My eyes must dwell 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 you will not exalt them.
5 He who informs on his friends for his own gain,
the eyes of his children will fail.
6 But he has made an epithet of me to the people.
They spit in my face.
7 My eye also is weak from sorrow.
All my members are like a shadow.
8 Upright men are appalled at this.
The innocent are stirred up against the godless.
9 Yet the righteous will hold to his ways.
He who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.
10 But as for all of you, come back,
and I will not find a wise man among you.
11 My days are past.
My plans are broken,
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 bed 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 will see it?
16 Shall it go down with me to the gates of Sheol
or descend together into the dust?”