Chapter 17

¹My spirit shall be wasted, my days shall be shortened, and only the grave remaineth for me. ²I have not sinned, and my eye abideth in bitterness. ³Deliver me O Lord, and set me beside thee, and let any man's hand fight against me. ⁴Thou hast set their heart far from understanding, therefore they shall not be exalted. ⁵He promiseth a prey to his companions, and the eyes of his children shall fail. ⁶He hath made me as it were a byword of the people, and I am an example before them. ⁷My eye is dim through indignation, and my limbs are brought as it were to nothing. ⁸The just shall be astonished at this, and the innocent shall be raised up against the hypocrite. ⁹And the just man shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger. ¹⁰Wherefore be you all converted, and come, and I shall not find among you any wise man. ¹¹My days have passed away, my thoughts are dissipated, tormenting my heart. ¹²They have turned night into day, and after darkness I hope for light again. ¹³If I wait hell is my house, and I have made my bed in darkness. ¹⁴If I have said to rottenness: Thou art my father; to worms, my mother and my sister. ¹⁵Where is now then my expectation, and who considereth my patience? ¹⁶All that I have shall go down into the deepest pit: thinkest thou that there at least I shall have rest?