Last light on a bare slope: a few low stone cairns in the foreground, and far beyond them a gray mound with one tiny wrapped figure, under a calm, fading, empty sky.

The Book of

Job 17

Job is still speaking, round two. He has named a witness in heaven. Now he looks down, at the grave.

16 verses≈ 3 min1 personBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–3The testBlameless, stripped of everything, and his cry
4–14Round oneThe friends speak; Job answers
15–21Round twoMy Redeemer livesChapter 17
22–31Round threeThen wisdom, and Job's last defense
32–37ElihuA younger voice
38–41The LORD speaksOut of the whirlwind
42The endJob prays and is restored

Job Prepares for Death

Job

Job

“My spirit is broken; my days are extinguished;

the grave awaits me.

Surely mockers surround me,

and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.

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Job

Job

Give me, I pray, the pledge You demand.

Who else will be my guarantor?

You have closed their minds to understanding;

therefore You will not exalt them.

Job

If a man denounces his friends for a price,

the eyes of his children will fail.

Reflect

Who else?

“Who else will be my guarantor?” Job has no one left to stand for him, so he asks God to. Who do you turn to when no one else will vouch for you? Write what you would say to Him.

Job

Yet a righteous one holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger.

Job 17:9

Job

But come back and try again, all of you.

For I will not find a wise man among you.

Question

Quick question

Whom has he been looking for?

Who does Job say he will not find among his friends?

Job

My days have passed; my plans are broken off—

even the desires of my heart.

They have turned night into day,

making light seem near in the face of darkness.

Job

At nightfall the dark mouth of a rock-cut tomb in a bare cliff, a rough unshaped boulder shifted half aside and a worn sleeping mat lying on the dust at its entrance, under a calm dim sky.

If I look for Sheol as my home,

if I spread out my bed in darkness,

and say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’

and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’

where then is my hope?

Who can see any hope for me?

Will it go down to the gates of Sheol?

Will we go down together into the dust?”

0:19

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Job

where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?

Pray

Pray for those who can see only the grave tonight. Thank God that He upholds His people when they have no strength to hold on. Pray for friends grown tired of hard questions. Thank Him that “where then is my hope?” was not the last word.

You’ve experienced

Job 17

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A verse to carry with you

Yet a righteous one holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger.

Job 17:9

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