Job17

Job laments his failing health and imminent death, feeling mocked by his companions. He challenges their lack of wisdom and expresses his conviction that the grave is his only immediate future. Despite his despair, he asserts that the righteous will ultimately persevere.

Death Is Near; Job Demands a Surety

1
"My spirit is broken, my days are quenched, I am marked for the grave. ​
2
Mockers are all around me; my eye meets only their hostility.
3
Be my guarantor, yourself! Who else will put up a pledge for me? ​
4
For you have shut their minds to common sense; therefore you will not let them triumph. ​
5
Should people share with their friends when their own children's eyes are so sad?

Job Becomes a Byword

6
"He has made me a byword among the peoples, a creature in whose face they spit. ​
7
I am nearly blind with grief, my limbs reduced to a shadow.
8
The upright are perplexed at this, the innocent aroused against the hypocrites. ​
9
Yet the righteous hold on to their way, and those with clean hands grow stronger and stronger. ​
10
"But as for you all, turn around! Come back! -yet I won't find a wise man among you. ​

Lost Hope and the Certainty of the Grave

11
My days are over, my plans cut off, which I had cherished so; ​
12
but they [try to] turn [my] night into day, [saying,] 'Light is near!'-in the face of darkness.
13
"If I hope for Sh'ol to be my house; if I spread my couch in the dark;
14
if I say to the pit, 'You are my father,'and to worms, 'You are my mother and sister,' ​
15
then where is my hope? And that hope of mine, who will see it?
16
Only those who go down with me to the bars of Sh'ol, when we rest together in the dust." ​

Study Notes for Job 17

Verse 1

Job opens this final speech in the second dialogue cycle by stating his imminent death, setting a tone of urgent despair and finality.

Verse 3

Job demands that God act as his *surety* or guarantor. Since his friends refuse to acknowledge his innocence, Job asks God to pledge on his behalf, securing justice against his human adversaries.

Verse 4

Job believes God has deliberately hidden understanding from his friends, implying that their flawed theology—which attributes his suffering to hidden sin—is fundamentally bankrupt.

Verse 6

Job laments that his suffering has made him a public spectacle, a 'byword' or object of scorn and derision, contradicting the honor he once held.

Verse 8

Job anticipates that his profound suffering, despite his innocence, will serve as a theological shock, motivating the upright to stand firm against those who wrongly judge (the 'hypocrite,' referring to his judgmental friends).

Verse 9

This verse is a powerful affirmation of faith embedded within Job's doubt. He maintains the principle that true righteousness leads to perseverance and increasing spiritual strength, regardless of external circumstances.

Verse 10

Job dismisses his friends for the final time in this cycle, declaring their counsel worthless and challenging them to prove their wisdom, which he knows they cannot.

Verse 11

Job returns to the theme of utter loss. His plans, purposes, and very thoughts have been shattered by his affliction and the certainty of death.

Verse 14

Job uses stark, personalized imagery, embracing decay ('corruption') and the 'worm' as his only remaining family. This emphasizes his complete commitment to the grave (Sheol) as his final home.

Verse 16

The 'bars of the pit' refer to the gates or barriers of Sheol (the realm of the dead), confirming that Job sees his destiny sealed in death, extinguishing all earthly hope.

Use ← → arrow keys to navigate
Settings

Reading Style

Typeface

Font Size 19px

Reading Width 45 chars

Options