22FOR YEARS OF NUMBER THEY WILL COME AND A WAY [WHICH] NOT I WILL RETURN I WILL GO 22For when only a few years are past I will go the way of no return. [’’]
1SPIRIT MY IT IS BROKEN DAYS MY THEY ARE EXTINGUISHED GRAVE<S> [BELONG] TO ME Job Prepares for Death 1“My spirit is broken; my days are extinguished; the grave awaits me.
2<IF>? NOT MOCKERIES [ARE] WITH ME AND ON REBELLING THEY MAY IT DWELL EYE MY 2Surely mockers surround me, and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.
3MAKE! PLEASE STAND SURETY FOR ME WITH YOURSELF WHO? THAT TO HAND MY WILL HE STRIKE HIMSELF 3Give me, I pray, the pledge You demand. Who else will be my guarantor?
4FOR HEART THEIR YOU HAVE KEPT FROM UNDERSTANDING THERE- -FORE NOT YOU WILL EXALT [THEM] 4You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore You will not exalt them.
5FOR A SHARE HE TELLS FRIENDS AND [THE] EYES OF CHILDREN HIS THEY WILL FAIL 5If a man denounces his friends for a price, the eyes of his children will fail.
6AND HE HAS SET ME TO USE A PROVERB PEOPLES AND A SPITTING TO [THE] FACE I AM 6He has made me a byword among the people, a man in whose face they spit.
7AND IT HAS GROWN DIM FROM GRIEF EYE MY AND MEMBERS MY [ARE] LIKE <THE> SHADOW ALL OF THEM 7My eyes have grown dim with grief, and my whole body is but a shadow.
8THEY ARE APPALLED UPRIGHT [PEOPLE] ON THIS AND [THE] INNOCENT ON [THE] GODLESS HE WILL ROUSE HIMSELF 8The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent are stirred against the godless.
9AND HE MAY HOLD [THE] RIGHTEOUS WAY HIS AND [THE] CLEAN OF HANDS HE WILL INCREASE STRENGTH 9Yet a righteous one holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger.
10AND BUT ALL OF THEM YOU WILL RETURN AND COME PLEASE AND NOT I WILL FIND AMONG YOU A WISE [PERSON] 10But come back and try again, all of you. For I will not find a wise man among you.
11DAYS MY THEY HAVE PASSED PLANS MY THEY HAVE BEEN TORN APART [THE] WISHES OF HEART MY 11My days have passed; my plans are broken off— even the desires of my heart.
12NIGHT INTO DAY THEY MAKE LIGHT [IS] NEAR FROM BEFORE DARKNESS 12They have turned night into day, making light seem near in the face of darkness.
13IF I WILL HOPE FOR SHEOL HOME MY IN THE DARKNESS I HAVE SPREAD OUT BEDS MY 13If I look for Sheol as my home, if I spread out my bed in darkness,
14TO THE PIT I HAVE CALLED OUT [ARE] FATHER MY YOU O MOTHER MY AND SISTER MY TO THE MAGGOT 14and say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
15AND WHERE? THEN [IS] HOPE MY AND HOPE MY WHO? WILL HE OBSERVE IT 15where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?
16[THE] POLES OF SHEOL WILL THEY GO DOWN? OR? TOGETHER TO [THE] DUST WILL WE DESCEND 16Will it go down to the gates of Sheol? Will we go down together into the dust?”