Job 17 - Introduction

TODAY'S ENGLISH VERSION

1 The end of my life is near. I can hardly breathe;

there is nothing left for me but the grave.

2 1 watch how bitterly people mock me.
3 I am honest, God. Accept my word.

There is no one else to support what I say.

4 You have closed their minds to reason;

don-'t let them gloat over me now.

5 In the old proverb a man betrays his friends for money,

and his children suffer for it.

6 And now they use this proverb against me;

people hear it and come and spit in my face.

7 My grief has almost made me blind;

my arms and legs are as thin as shadows.

8 Those who claim to be honest are shocked,

and they all condemn me as godless.

9 Those who claim to be respectable

are more and more convinced they are right.

10 But if all of them came and stood before me,

I would not find even one of them wise.

11 My days have passed; my plans have failed;

my hope is gone.

12 But my friends say night is daylight;

they say that light is near,

but I still remain in darkness.

13 My only hope is the world of the dead,

where I will lie down to sleep in the dark.

14 I will say that the grave is my father,

and the worms that eat me are my mother and sisters.

15 Where is there any hope for me? Who sees any?
16 Hope will not go with me

when I go to the world of the dead.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 17:1-16

340.

Job really welcomes death and the grave because in heaven he will be able to solve his problem. Is this the thought of this chapter? Discuss.

341.

What are the mockers or mockeries of which Job speaks in verse two?

342.

Job wants someone to pledge with him. Who is it? Why?

343.

There is a poignant picture in verse four: No one will risk providing Job's bail until his trial is arranged. Discuss.

344.

Job's friends are likened to informers. In what way? Cf. Job 17:5.

345.

Job has received the bitterest insult from the neighboring people and God is responsible. Explain how this is true (or not).

346.

Job has become prematurely old and has lost excessive weight. What was the cause of this? Isn-'t Job full of exaggeration?

347.

Job calls both the righteous and the innocent to his defense. How so?

348.

Verse nine is compared to a rocket which shoots above the tragic darkness of the book. Explain.

349.

Job challenges his friends. What is the purpose of his challenge? Cf. Job 17:10.

350.

Job 17:11 reflects Job's deep emotions. What does Job decide? Is it ever right to make a decision when so supercharged with emotion?

351.

Job's mockers must have reached Job's conscience or confused his mind to actually turn his nights into days. Cf. Job 17:12. Discuss.

352.

Job has adapted a morbid preoccupation with death. Is he suggesting this is his extinction?

353.

The only ones who will see Job's hope (i.e., according to Job) will be what persons?

354.

Discuss the preoccupation with the death wish of today.