Job17
World English Bible · Public Domain
1“My spirit is consumed. My days are extinct and the grave is ready for me.
2Surely there are mockers with me. My eye dwells on their provocation.
3“Now give a pledge. Be collateral for me with yourself. Who is there who will strike hands with me?
4For you have hidden their heart from understanding, therefore you will not exalt them.
5He who denounces his friends for plunder, even the eyes of his children will fail.
6“But he has made me a byword of the people. They spit in my face.
7My eye also is dim by reason of sorrow. All my members are as a shadow.
8Upright men will be astonished at this. The innocent will stir himself up against the godless.
9Yet the righteous will hold to his way. He who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.
10But as for you all, come back. I will not find a wise man among you.
11My days are past. My plans are broken off, as are the thoughts of my heart.
12They change the night into day, saying ‘The light is near’ in the presence of darkness.
13If I look for Sheol as my house, if I have spread my couch in the darkness,
14if I have said to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ and ‘My sister,’
15where then is my hope? As for my hope, who will see it?
16Shall it go down with me to the gates of Sheol, or descend together into the dust?”
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Job 17.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Job appeals from man to God. (1–9). His hope is not in life, but in death. (10–16).
vv1-9
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.
vv10-16
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.
Key Words
רוּחַ: wind; by resemblance breath, i.e. a sensible (or even violent) exhalation; figuratively, life, anger, unsubstantiality; by extension, a region of the sky; by resemblance spirit, but only of a rational being (including its expression and functions)
חָבַל: to wind tightly (as a rope), i.e. to bind; specifically, by a pledge; figuratively, to pervert, destroy; also to writhe in pain (especially of parturition)
יוֹם: a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)
זָעַךְ: to extinguish
קֶבֶר: a sepulchre
הָתֹל: a derision
עַיִן: an eye (literally or figuratively); by analogy, a fountain (as the eye of the landscape)
לוּן: to stop (usually over night); by implication, to stay permanently; hence (in a bad sense) to be obstinate (especially in words, to complain)
מָרָה: to be (causatively, make) bitter (or unpleasant); (figuratively) to rebel (or resist; causatively, to provoke)
עָרַב: to braid, i.e. intermix; technically, to traffic (as if by barter); also or give to be security (as a kind of exchange)
Cross References
Job 17Job asks for a surety with God, foreshadowing Christ as our Surety.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The custom of striking hands to go surety for another, illustrating Job's legal metaphor.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Striking hands as the standard cultural gesture for becoming surety or pledge.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Job repeats that he has become a byword and a song among the people.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Wasting away and dimness of the eyes because of grief and sorrow.
Supported by JFB
The metaphor of life and purposes being cut off like a weaver's thread.
Supported by JFB
Using intimate family terms (sister, mother) in parallelism; here applied mockingly to the worm.
Supported by JFB
Contrasts Job's sleepless, tearful eyes in provocation with mockers surrounding him.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Job charges his friends with speaking deceitfully and partially on God's behalf.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Job experiences the curse of becoming an astonishment and a byword to others.
Supported by JFB
The paradox where the righteous find renewed strength and vigor through afflictions.
Supported by JFB
The grave as the place where the weary find quiet rest in the dust.
Supported by JFB
Job's recurring desire for a daysman or mediator to try his cause fairly.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The legal concept of retribution extending to the children of the wicked.
Supported by JFB
The eye consumed with grief, reflecting Job's physical and mental distress.
Supported by JFB