= Job 17 * Please see [[nsv:license|License]] for Copyright notice and Licensing information. * [ [[Job_16|Previous]] | [[Job_18|Next]] ] == Job 17 1 My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me. 2 Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation? 3 Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me? 4 For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt them. 5 He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail. 6 He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret. 7 Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow. 8 Upright men shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite. 9 The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger. 10 But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you. 11 My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart. 12 They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness. 13 If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness. 14 I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister. 15 And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it? 16 They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust. == Notes == Cross Reference == Concordance == Commentary == Rashi ==== Verse 1 flicker Heb. נזעכו have sprung away, like (above 6:17) “they jump (נדעכו).” graves are ready for me I am ready for the grave. ==== Verse 2 even if there were no [Even if] this had not befallen me, that scornful people had gathered with me in my consolations to mock me. in their provocation Heb. ובהמרותם, like (Ezek. 20:8, 13, 21), “And they provoked (וימרו) me”; (Deut. 9:7), “you have been provoking (ממרים).” [This is] an expression meaning: in their provocation. my eye...abide My eye, my heart, and my thought abide in them. ==== Verse 3 Pay heed now O Creator. give me surety by shaking the hands to debate together, for who is it of these who will shake my hand that it should be good for me? ==== Verse 4 For Behold. You have hidden their hearts from understanding Therefore, Your glory will not be exalted through them. ==== Verse 5 flattery Heb. לְחֵלֶק, flattery (חלקלקות). speaks Each one of them [speaks] to his friend, and this will come to them: their children’s eyes will fail. ==== Verse 6 and...a drum Heb. תפת, like תּוֹף, a drum. before them lit. to the face; [i.e., to the face] of the people, I am [a drum]. ==== Verse 7 and my limbs namely, the limbs with which I was formed. ==== Verse 8 will be appalled they will wonder. and an innocent one If there is a righteous [man] who hears the mockery of these hypocrites. will be aroused to quarrel with you. ==== Verse 9 Yet the righteous holds on his way i.e., every righteous man holds on his way to stand up against the company of the hypocrites. ==== Verse 10 But all of them I say to you, “Return now and come now.” and I will not find any wise man among you insofar as you mock my lamentation. ==== Verse 11 My days etc. Behold, the days of my prosperity, to which I became accustomed, have passed. my purposes Which I had expected to last with prosperity. the thoughts of my heart have been broken off Heb. מורשי, lit. the inheritances of. The thoughts which my heart gave me to possess, for my heart said that I would inherit good because of my [righteous] way. ==== Verse 12 They turn night into day These mockers turn night into day for me, for I cannot sleep at night because of the trouble of the mockings. the light is short lit. קרוב, near, and short for me because of the trouble of the darkness of the night. The light is short; when the sun sets, it appears to me as though a short time ago the day dawned, was shortened, and left. This is like (Gen. 19:20), “this city is recent (קרובה)” it was newly settled recently and like (below 20:5), “That the triumph of the wicked is short (מקרוב),” and like (Deut. 32:17), “new ones that came up of late (מקרוב).” ==== Verse 13 Since I hope for the grave Heb. אם, like (above 14:5), “If (אם) his days are limited” [See Rashi ad loc.], i.e., since I hope for the grave as my house. in the darkness I have spread out my couch I have spread out my couch in the grave. ==== Verse 14 To the pit I have called, ‘You are my father,’ to lodge there many days as though it was my father, since this is my hope. ==== Verse 15 Where then is my hope [Where then is] this [my hope]? Why is it deferred, and who will see it to hasten it to me? ==== Verse 16 The limbs of the grave shall descend Those limbs [of my body] that will ultimately descend to the grave, for indeed they will all rest on the dust. they rest on the dust Heb. נחת, will lodge, an expression of (Num. 11:26), “the spirit rested (ותנח) upon them.”