Job 17: Job: where is my hope?
A free study, verse by verse. Text: World English Bible. Notes come from the Hebrew. How to read a study
What happens?
Job goes on speaking. He says his spirit is consumed and the grave is ready for him, that he has become a byword and people spit in his face, and he asks for a pledge from someone who will strike hands with him. He tells those he speaks to to come back, since he will not find a wise man among them, and asks where his hope is and whether it will go down to the gates of Sheol.
Who is speaking?
God does not speak in this chapter, so nothing is in gold. Job speaks the whole chapter: no verse names a new speaker, so it goes on from his words in chapter 16. In verse 3 he speaks to one person he does not name, and in verse 10 to "all of you". Two sayings are quoted inside his words: in verse 12 the WEB has "they", whom the text does not name, saying "The light is near" (the Hebrew has no word for "saying"), and in verse 14 Job quotes his own words, "You are my father" to the pit and "My mother" and "My sister" to the worm. God's own words are printed in gold, and those verses are marked God speaks
1“My spirit is consumed. My days are extinct and the grave is ready for me.
In plain English: My spirit is consumed (or: broken). My days are extinct (or: put out), and the grave is ready for me (the Hebrew says: graves).
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2Surely there are mockers with me. My eye dwells on their provocation.
In plain English: Surely there are mockers with me, and my eye stays on their provocation.
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3“Now give a pledge. Be collateral for me with yourself. Who is there who will strike hands with me?
In plain English: Now give a pledge. Be collateral for me with yourself. Who is there who will strike hands with me?
Good to know: In the Hebrew, "give a pledge" and "be collateral" are said to one person, and so is "with yourself". In the "you" was all of them, and in it is "all of you". The verse does not name the one Job asks.
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4For you have hidden their heart from understanding, therefore you will not exalt them.
In plain English: For you have hidden their heart from understanding, therefore you will not exalt them.
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5He who denounces his friends for plunder, even the eyes of his children will fail.
In plain English: He who denounces his friends for plunder (the Hebrew says: for a share), even the eyes of his children will fail.
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6“But he has made me a byword of the people. They spit in my face.
In plain English: But he has made me a byword of the people, and they spit in my face (see the note).
The Hebrew words: "Byword" is mashol, which the dictionary gives as "a satire". "Spit" is topheth, which the dictionary gives as "a smiting, i.e. (figuratively) contempt". Each of these words is in this verse only in the whole Bible.
What changes: Word by word the second line reads "and a spitting to the face I am". With the dictionary meaning it can read "and I am contempt to the face". The text does not say which.
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7My eye also is dim by reason of sorrow. All my members are as a shadow.
In plain English: My eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my limbs are like a shadow.
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8Upright men will be astonished at this. The innocent will stir himself up against the godless.
In plain English: Upright men will be astonished at this, and the innocent will stir himself up against the godless.
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9Yet the righteous will hold to his way. He who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.
In plain English: Yet the righteous will hold to his way, and he who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.
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10But as for you all, come back. I will not find a wise man among you.
In plain English: But as for all of you, come back, please. I will not find a wise man among you.
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11My days are past. My plans are broken off, as are the thoughts of my heart.
In plain English: My days are past. My plans are broken off, and so are the wishes (thoughts) of my heart.
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12They change the night into day, saying ‘The light is near’ in the presence of darkness.
In plain English: They change the night into day, saying, "The light is near," in the presence of darkness (the Hebrew has no word for "saying": word by word, "light is near, from before darkness").
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13If I look for Sheol as my house, if I have spread my couch in the darkness,
In plain English: If I look for Sheol as my house, if I have spread my bed in the darkness,
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14if I have said to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ and ‘My sister,’
In plain English: if I have called to the pit (or: corruption), "You are my father," and to the worm, "My mother" and "My sister,"
The Hebrew word: "Corruption" is shachath, which the dictionary gives as "a pit (especially as a trap); figuratively, destruction".
How it is translated: Shachath is in 23 verses of the Bible and 7 of Job. The WEB says "pit" in 18 of the 23 and "corruption" in 4, one of them this verse. In Job it says "pit" in 5 of the 7.
What changes: With "pit" Job has called out to the pit, saying "You are my father". With "corruption" he has said it to corruption. The text does not say which.
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15where then is my hope? As for my hope, who will see it?
In plain English: where then is my hope? As for my hope, who will see it?
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16Shall it go down with me to the gates of Sheol, or descend together into the dust?”
In plain English: Will they (or: it) go down to the gates of Sheol (or: the poles of Sheol)? Or will we go down together into the dust?
The Hebrew words: This verse is hard in the Hebrew. "Gates" is bad, which the dictionary gives as "properly, separation", with other meanings that include "a part of the body". Word by word this verse reads "the poles of Sheol, will they go down? Or together to the dust will we descend?", with no words for "with me" or "it".
How it is translated: Bad is in 179 verses of the Bible and 9 of Job. In Job the WEB says "alone" in 7 of the 9 and "gates" in this verse only. In it says "members of his body".
What changes: The WEB reads that Job's hope may go down with him to the gates of Sheol. Word by word, "they" go down to the poles (or bars) of Sheol, or "we" go down together to the dust. The text does not say what "they" are.
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