Chapter Overview
Summary
Job 17 continues Job's response — pleading for divine-pledge (v. 3), describing his suffering as universal-mockery (vv. 4–6), and calling Sheol his only-future-home (vv. 13–16). The chapter's despair-at-its-deepest sits before Job 19's resurrection-hope-breakthrough.
Notable Variants
17:3 'lay down a pledge for me with yourself' divine-surety request; 17:9 'the righteous shall hold to his way, and he who has clean hands shall grow stronger and stronger'; 17:13–16 Sheol-as-only-home.
Structural Notes
MT Job 17 = LXX Job 17. 16 verses.
My spirit is broken, my days are snuffed out. The graveyard is all that remains for me.
'My spirit is broken; my days are extinct; the graveyard is ready for me' tracks MT.
Mockers surround me; my eyes stare at their hostility through the night.
'Surely there are mockers about me, and my eye dwells on their provocation' tracks MT.
Put up a pledge for me — be my guarantor yourself! Who else would shake hands on my behalf?
'Lay down a pledge for me with yourself; who is there who will put up security for me?' tracks MT. PLEDGE-FROM-GOD — divine-surety request. Hebrews 7:22 ('Jesus has become the GUARANTOR of a better covenant,' egguos) extends — Christ-as-divine-pledge fulfills Job's-cry.
For you have closed their minds to understanding; therefore you will not let them triumph.
'Since you have closed their hearts to understanding, therefore you will not let them triumph' tracks MT.
The one who denounces friends for profit — his own children's eyes will fail.
'He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property — the eyes of his children will fail' tracks MT.
He has made me a byword among the peoples; I am one in whose face they spit.
'He has made me a byword of the peoples, and I am one before whom men spit' tracks MT. SPIT-UPON. Matthew 26:67 ('then they spit in his face') Christological-typology of mocked-suffering.
My eyes grow dim from grief, and my whole body is like a shadow.
'My eye has grown dim from vexation, and all my members are like a shadow' tracks MT.
The upright are appalled at this; the innocent are outraged at the godless.
'The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless' tracks MT.
Yet the righteous will hold to their path, and those with clean hands will grow stronger.
'Yet the righteous holds to his way, and he who has clean hands grows stronger and stronger' tracks MT. RIGHTEOUS-GROWS-STRONGER. 2 Cor 4:16's 'though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day' extends.
But come back, all of you — try again. I will not find a wise man among you.
'But you, come on again, all of you, and I shall not find a wise man among you' tracks MT.
My days are gone; my plans are shattered — the very desires of my heart.
'My days are past; my plans are broken off, the desires of my heart' tracks MT.
They turn night into day; they say light is near when darkness closes in.
'They make night into day; the light, they say, is near to the darkness' tracks MT.
If I look for anything, Sheol is my home. I have spread my bed in the darkness.
'If I hope for Sheol as my house, if I make my bed in darkness' tracks MT. SHEOL-AS-HOUSE — settling-for-the-grave.
I call out to the pit, 'You are my father!' To the worm, 'My mother! My sister!'
'If I say to the pit: You are my father, and to the worm: My mother, or My sister' tracks MT.
Where then is my hope? My hope — who can see it?
'Where then is my hope? Who will see my hope?' tracks MT. WHERE-IS-HOPE — the despair-question. Job 19:25's resurrection-breakthrough lies-just-ahead.
Will it descend to the gates of Sheol? Will we sink down together into the dust?
'Will it go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust?' tracks MT.