my days have faded out,2
the grave3 awaits me.
17:2 Surely mockery4 is with me;5
my eyes must dwell on their hostility.6
17:3 Make then my pledge7 with you.
Who else will put up security for me?8
17:4 Because9 you have closed their10 minds to understanding,
therefore you will not exalt them.11
17:5 If a man denounces his friends for personal gain,12
the eyes of his children will fail.
17:6 He has made me13 a byword14 to people,
I am the one in whose face they spit.15
17:7 My eyes have grown dim16 with grief;
my whole frame17 is but a shadow.
17:8 Upright men are appalled18 at this;
the innocent man is troubled19 with the godless.20
17:9 But the righteous man holds to his way,
and the one with clean hands grows stronger.21
Anticipation of Death
17:10 “But turn, all of you,22 and come23 now!24
I will not find a wise man among you.
17:11 My days have passed, my plans25 are shattered,
even26 the desires27 of my heart.
17:12 These men28 change29 night into day;
they say,30 ‘The light is near
in the face of darkness.’31
17:13 If32 I hope for the grave to be my home,
if I spread out my bed in darkness,
17:14 If I cry33 to corruption,34 ‘You are my father,’
and to the worm, ‘My Mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
17:15 and where then35 is my hope?
And my hope,36 who sees it?
17:16 Will37 it38 go down to the bars39 of death?
Will40 we descend41 together into the dust?”
Bildad’s Second Speech42