New International Version
Job 17:6
6“God has made me a byword to everyone, a man in whose face people spit.
Job 17:6 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret.
- English Standard Version (ESV)"He has made me a byword of the peoples, and I am one before whom men spit.
- New King James Version (NKJV)“But He has made me a byword of the people, And I have become one in whose face men spit.
- New Living Translation (NLT)“God has made a mockery of me among the people; they spit in my face.
Context of Job 17:6
4You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore you will not let them triumph. 5If anyone denounces their friends for reward, the eyes of their children will fail. “God has made me a byword to everyone, a man in whose face people spit. 7My eyes have grown dim with grief; my whole frame is but a shadow. 8The upright are appalled at this; the innocent are aroused against the ungodly.
Read all of Job 17Job 17:6 word by word
וְֽ֭הִצִּגַנִי לִמְשֹׁ֣ל עַמִּ֑ים וְתֹ֖פֶת לְפָנִ֣ים אֶֽהְיֶֽה׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 17:6
- Job 30:9“And now those young men mock me in song; I have become a byword among them.
- 1 Kings 9:7then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples.
- Psalms 44:14You have made us a byword among the nations; the peoples shake their heads at us.
- Genesis 31:27Why did you run off secretly and deceive me? Why didn’t you tell me, so I could send you away with joy and singing to the music of timbrels and harps?
- Isaiah 5:12They have harps and lyres at their banquets, pipes and timbrels and wine, but they have no regard for the deeds of the Lord, no respect for the work of his hands.
Commentaries on Job 17:6
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 6He hath made me also a by-word - My afflictions and calamities have become a subject of general conversation, so that my poverty and affliction are proverbial. As poor as Job, As afflicted as Job, are proverbs that have even reached our times and are still in use. Aforetime I was as a tabret - This is not the translation of the Hebrew אהיה לפנים ותפת vethopheth lephanim eheyeh . Instead of לפנים lephanim, I would read לפניהם liphneghem, and then the…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 6He hath also - That is, God has done this. Also a by-word - A proverb (משׁל mâshâl ); a term of reproach, ridicule, or scorn. lie has exposed me to derision. And aforetime - Margin “before them.” The margin is the correct translation of the Hebrew, פנים pânı̂ym It means, in their presence, or in their view. I was as a tabret - This is an unhappy translation. The true meaning is,” I am become their “abhorrence,” or am to them an object of contempt.”…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 6Spitting in someone's face was more insulting than a slap because it made the person ceremonially unclean (16:10; Numbers 12:14).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 66. He--God. The poet reverentially suppresses the name of God when speaking of calamities inflicted. by-word--(De 28:37; Psa 69:11). My awful punishment makes my name execrated everywhere, as if I must have been superlatively bad to have earned it. aforetime ... tabret--as David was honored (1Sa 18:6). Rather from a different Hebrew root, "I am treated to my face as an object of disgust," literally, "an object to be spit upon in the face" (Nu 12:14). So…Read the comment
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 17
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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Commentaries