171 "My spirit is broken , my days are extinguished , The grave is ready for me. 2 " Surely e mockers are with me, And my eye gazes on their provocation . 3 "Lay down , now , a pledge for me with Yourself; Who is there that will be my guarantor e ? 4 "For You have kept their heart from understanding , Therefore e You will not exalt them. 5 "He who informs against friends for a share of the spoil, The eyes of his children also will languish . 6 "But He has made me a byword of the people , And I am one at whom men spit . 7 "My eye has also grown dim because of grief , And all my members are as a shadow . 8 "The upright will be appalled at this , And the innocent will stir up himself against the godless . 9 "Nevertheless the righteous will hold to his way , And he who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.
10 "But come again all of you now , For I do not find a wise man among you. 11 "My days are past , my plans are torn apart , Even the wishes of my heart . 12 "They make night into day , saying, 'The light is near ,' in the presence of darkness . 13 "If I look for Sheol as my home , I make my bed in the darkness ; 14 If I call to the pit , 'You are my father '; To the worm , 'my mother and my sister '; 15 Where now is my hope ? And who regards my hope ? 16 "Will it go down with me to Sheol ? Shall we together go down into the dust ?"
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Job 17:1-23
Commentary on Job 17:1-9
(Read Job 17:1-9)
Job reflects upon the harsh censures his friends had passed upon him, and, looking on himself as a dying man, he appeals to God. Our time is ending. It concerns us carefully to redeem the days of time, and to spend them in getting ready for eternity. We see the good use the righteous should make of Job's afflictions from God, from enemies, and from friends. Instead of being discouraged in the service of God, by the hard usage this faithful servant of God met with, they should be made bold to proceed and persevere therein. Those who keep their eye upon heaven as their end, will keep their feet in the paths of religion as their way, whatever difficulties and discouragements they may meet with.
Commentary on Job 17:10-16
(Read Job 17:10-16)
Job's friends had pretended to comfort him with the hope of his return to a prosperous estate; he here shows that those do not go wisely about the work of comforting the afflicted, who fetch their comforts from the possibility of recovery in this world. It is our wisdom to comfort ourselves, and others, in distress, with that which will not fail; the promise of God, his love and grace, and a well-grounded hope of eternal life. See how Job reconciles himself to the grave. Let this make believers willing to die; it is but going to bed; they are weary, and it is time that they were in their beds. Why should not they go willingly when their Father calls them? Let us remember our bodies are allied to corruption, the worm and the dust; and let us seek for that lively hope which shall be fulfilled, when the hope of the wicked shall be put out in darkness; that when our bodies are in the grave, our souls may enjoy the rest reserved for the people of God.