Job 17: My Hope and the Grave
Worn to the edge of death, Job feels mocked on every side and asks where his hope can possibly be found.
Job 17 (WEB)
1 “My spirit is consumed. My days are extinct, And the grave is ready for me.
2 Surely there are mockers with me. My eye dwells on their provocation.
3 “Now give a pledge, be collateral for me with yourself. Who is there who will strike hands with me?
4 For you have hidden their heart from understanding, Therefore you shall not exalt them.
5 He who denounces his friends for plunder, Even the eyes of his children shall fail.
6 “But he has made me a byword of the people. They spit in my face.
7 My eye also is dim by reason of sorrow. All my members are as a shadow.
8 Upright men shall be astonished at this. The innocent shall stir up himself against the godless.
9 Yet shall the righteous hold on his way. He who has clean hands shall grow stronger and stronger.
10 But as for you all, come on now again; I shall not find a wise man among you.
11 My days are past, my plans are broken off, as are the thoughts of my heart.
12 They change the night into day, saying ‘The light is near’ in the presence of darkness.
13 If I look for Sheol as my house, if I have spread my couch in the darkness,
14 If I have said to corruption, ‘You are my father;’ to the worm, ‘My mother,’ and ‘my sister;’
15 where then is my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?
16 Shall it go down with me to the gates of Sheol, or descend together into the dust?”
Job 17 (KJV)
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.
Job 17 (ASV)
1 My spirit is consumed, my days are extinct, The grave isreadyfor me.
2 Surely there are mockers with me, And mine eye dwelleth upon their provocation.
3 Give now a pledge, be surety for me with thyself; Who is there that will strike hands with me?
4 For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: Therefore shalt thou not exalt them.
5 He that denounceth his friends for a prey, Even the eyes of his children shall fail.
6 But he hath made me a byword of the people; And they spit in my face.
7 Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, And all my members are as a shadow.
8 Upright men shall be astonished at this, And the innocent shall stir up himself against the godless.
9 Yet shall the righteous hold on his way, And he that hath clean hands shall wax stronger and stronger.
10 But as for you all, come on now again; And I shall not find a 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, say they, is near unto the darkness.
13 If I look for Sheol as my house; If I have spread my couch in the darkness;
14 If I have said to corruption, Thou art my father; To the worm, Thou artmy mother, and my sister;
15 Where then is my hope? And as for my hope, who shall see it?
16 It shall go down to the bars of Sheol, When once there is rest in the dust.
Summary
Job continues his lament, feeling his spirit consumed and the grave ready for him. He is surrounded by mockers and asks God himself to give a pledge or stand as collateral for him, since no human being will strike hands in his defense. He complains that God has hidden understanding from his friends so they cannot truly see his case. He has become a byword among the people, one in whose face others spit, his eye dim with sorrow and his frame reduced to a shadow. Yet even here Job voices a flicker of confidence that upright men will be astonished at his plight and that the righteous will hold to their way and the clean of hands grow stronger. Turning back to his friends, he tells them he can find no wise man among them. His days are past, his plans broken off, and he confronts the possibility that the grave is his home, calling corruption his father and the worm his mother and sister. He ends with the aching question of where, then, his hope is, and whether it will simply descend with him into the dust. The chapter sits in the darkness, yet the very asking shows a heart still reaching for something beyond the grave.
Voices
- Job — The sufferer near despair, who feels the grave drawing near, asks God for a pledge, and wrestles aloud with where his hope can be found.
- The mockers and friends — Those around Job who provoke and scorn him, in whom he can find no wisdom and no defender.
- God — The one Job begs to stand surety for him, since no human will, even as he feels God has darkened his path.
Key Verse
Job 17:15 (WEB)
where then is my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?
Lessons Learned
- In the deepest darkness it is right to ask God himself to be our security and our defense.
- Even faithful people can be reduced to feeling like a byword and a shadow of themselves.
- Asking hard questions about hope is not the same as abandoning hope; the question itself reaches toward God.
- When human comforters fail, our refuge must be the Lord who alone can pledge himself for us.
- Ask God to be your surety. Job pleads, “give a pledge, be collateral for me with yourself” (Job 17:3, WEB), looking to God as the only one who can guarantee his cause.
- Suffering can make us a byword. Job laments, “he has made me a byword of the people” (Job 17:6, WEB), naming the shame that compounds his pain.
- The righteous hold to their way. “Yet shall the righteous hold on his way” (Job 17:9, WEB). Even amid despair, Job affirms that the upright do not finally let go.
- Honest questions can be acts of faith. “where then is my hope?” (Job 17:15, WEB) is not the end of hope but a wrestling that keeps reaching toward God for an answer.
- Why does Job ask God himself to be his pledge or surety (17:3)?
- What images does Job use to describe how low he has been brought, and how do they land with you?
- How can Job both feel the grave is ready for him and still say the righteous hold to their way (17:9)?
- Is it faithless to ask, “where then is my hope?” (17:15) Why or why not?
- When human help fails you, where do you turn, and how might you ask God to be your security?
- No human will defend Job, so he turns to God to stand as his collateral (17:3). It is a striking move: the one he feels has wounded him is also the only one who can guarantee his case. It anticipates the gospel, where God himself provides our surety.
- Job calls himself a byword spat upon, his eye dim with sorrow, his members like a shadow (17:6-7). Invite the group to sit with how shame and physical decline compound suffering, and to consider how to be present to people in that place.
- Job holds two realities at once: he is honest about nearing death yet still confesses that the righteous persevere. Faith is not the absence of despair but the refusal to finally let go of God in the midst of it.
- The question is a lament, not a denial; Job is reaching, not renouncing. Scripture honors such honest wrestling. Help the group see that bringing our questions to God is itself a kind of clinging to him.
- This is a personal-application question. Encourage members to name where they look when human help runs out, and to practice asking God to be their pledge and refuge, as Job does even in the dark.