Job Chapter 17 verse 3 Holy Bible
Give now a pledge, be surety for me with thyself; Who is there that will strike hands with me?
read chapter 17 in ASV
Be pleased, now, to be responsible for me to yourself; for there is no other who will put his hand in mine.
read chapter 17 in BBE
Lay down now [a pledge], be thou surety for me with thyself: who is he that striketh hands with me?
read chapter 17 in DARBY
Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me?
read chapter 17 in KJV
Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me?
read chapter 17 in WBT
"Now give a pledge, be collateral for me with yourself. Who is there who will strike hands with me?
read chapter 17 in WEB
Place, I pray Thee, my pledge with Thee; Who is he that striketh hand with me?
read chapter 17 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 3. - Lay down now; or, give now a pledge (see the Revised Version). The terms used in this verse are law terms. Job calls upon God to go into court with him, and, first of all, to deposit the caution-money which the court will require before it undertakes the investigation of the case. Next, he goes on to say, put me in a surety with thee; or rather (as in the Revised Version), be surety for me with thyself which is either the same thing with giving a pledge, or a further legal requirement. Finally, he asks the question, Who is he that will strike hands with me? meaning, "Who else is there but thyself, to whom I can look to be my surety, and by striking hands (comp. Proverbs 6:1) with me to accept the legal responsibility?" As Dr. Stanley Leathes says, "It is wonderful the way in which the language of Job fits in with what we have since and elsewhere learnt concerning the Persons in the Godhead."
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(3) Lay down now . . .--i.e., Give now a pledge; be surety for me with Thyself. He has declared that he has a witness in the heavens, but he desires some present token of the vindication to come of which he is confident, and so he asks God to give him such a pledge. This is virtually the same prayer that we find Hezekiah using (Isaiah 38:14): "O Lord, I am oppressed: undertake for me," that is, "Be surety for me." (See also Psalm 119:122 : "Be surety for thy servant for good.") There is that in man which demands exact and rigorous fulfilment or expiation of non-fulfilment. Job felt that his only hope of this fulfilment or expiation of non-fulfilment lay with God Himself: that same God who had put this sense of obligation within him; therefore he says, Be surety for me with Thyself." He longed for the daysman who should lay his hand upon both him and God; he now longs for that surety with God that God alone can give. The surety must be Divine if his witness is in the heavens; it must be the witness of God to God himself. In this wonderful way does the language of Job fit in with all that we have since and elsewhere learnt of the persons in the Godhead.Who is he that will strike hands with me?--This was the method of becoming surety; but he knows that there is no one among his friends who will do this, or that could do it if he would. (Comp. Psalm 49:7.)