Job 17:6
in Job 17He has made me a byword among the people, a man in whose face they spit.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But he hath made me a byword of the people; And they spit in my face.
KJV
He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret.
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This verse in Job 17
Commentary
8 notes on this verseHe 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 ותפת לפנים אהיה vethopheth lephanim eheyeh. Instead of לפנים lephanim, I would read לפניהם liphneghem, and then the clause might be translated thus: I shall be as a furnace, or consuming fire (Topheth) before them.
This site's exposition
He has made me a byword among the people
on Job 17:6-7
With "He has made me a byword among the people" Job moves from private grief to public shame, his name now a proverb for ruin. The lines "My eyes have grown dim with grief, and my whole body is but a shadow" complete the wasting that mirrors his social fall.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church3 voices
"I will rise in authority among peoples," because of the stupefaction for all that has happened to me. And the words, "I will be a veil on their faces," that is, whoever hears about my horrible misfortunes will veil his face. This is said as …
Just as Eliphaz promised temporal goods to those doing good, so also he asserted that all temporal adversities come about because of the sins of the one who suffers them. Since Job had suffered many adversities, Eliphaz uses him as an example to the people, …
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XIII · Written before 604.
proposed
Ver.6. He hath made me, as it were, a byword of the people, and I am an example before them. This let blessed Job say in his own person, yea and in the voice of all of the Elect. For everyone that is stricken with the rod, is, as it were, 'made a byword of the people,' in that every fool, when he desires to curse anyone, takes up his cursing in a likeness to him, whom he sees stricken with a temporal stroke, and wishes that punishment for his adversary, which he sees to have befallen the righteous man.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
He hath made me also a byword of the people,.... Either Eliphaz, or God; for whatsoever befell him, whether more immediately by the hand of God, or by any instrument, the ascribes it to him, as being suffered in Providence to befall him; as when he became a byword or proverb to the people in common, to whom an example might be set by one or more of Job's friends.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
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 Raca means (Mt 5:22) [UMBREIT].
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
He 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.” Vulgate, “I am an exampie (“exemplum”) to them.” Septuagint, “I am become a laughter (γέλως gelōs) to them.” The Chaldee renders it, “Thou hast placed me for a proverb to the people, and I shall be Gehenna (גיהנם gayhı̂nnôm) to them.” The Hebrew word תפת tôpheth - or “Tophet,” is the name which is often given in the Scriptures to the valley of Hinnom - the place where children were sacrificed to Moloch; see the notes at Mat 5:22. But there is no evidence or probability that the word was so used in the time of Job. It is never used in the Scriptures in the sense of a “tabret,” that is a tabor or small drum; though the word תף toph is thus used; see the notes at Isa 5:12. The word used here is derived, probably, from the obsolete verb תיף typ - “to spit out;” and then to spit out with contempt. The verb is so used in Chaldee. “Castell.” The meaning of the word probably still lives in the Arabic, The Arabic word means to spit out with contempt; and the various forms of the nouns derived from the verb are applied to anything detested, or detestable; to the parings of the nails; to an abandoned woman; to a dog, etc. See “Castell” on this word. I have no doubt that is the sense here, and that we have here a word whose true signification is to be sought in the Arabic; and that Job means to say that he was treated as the most loathsome and execrable object.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְֽ֭הִצִּגַנִי | vehitzigani | and he has set me | H3322 → | |
| לִמְשֹׁ֣ל | limshol | to use a proverb | H4914 → | |
| עַמִּ֑ים | ʾamim | peoples | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| וְתֹ֖פֶת | vetofet | and a spitting | H8611 → | |
| לְפָנִ֣ים | lefanim | to [the] face | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| אֶֽהְיֶֽה׃ | ʾehyeh | I am | H1961 → | 3559 times |
וְֽ֭הִצִּגַנִיand he has set me
vehitziganiH3322 →
לִמְשֹׁ֣לto use a proverb
limsholH4914 →
עַמִּ֑יםpeoples
ʾamimH5971 →1873 times
וְתֹ֖פֶתand a spitting
vetofetH8611 →
לְפָנִ֣יםto [the] face
lefanimH6440 →2123 times
אֶֽהְיֶֽה׃I am
ʾehyehH1961 →3559 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 44:14You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 24:9
I will make them a horror and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace and an object of scorn, ridicule, and cursing wherever I have banished them.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 24:9
Through
Isaiah 5:12At their feasts are the lyre and harp, tambourines and flutes and wine. They disregard the actions of the LORD and fail to see the work of His hands.
it leads to
- Job 21:11–14
They send forth their little ones like a flock; their children skip about,
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 28:5
Since they show no regard for the works of the LORD or what His hands have done, He will tear them down and never rebuild them.
- Job 21:11–14
Through
1 Kings 9:7then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. Then Israel will become an…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 28:37
You will become an object of horror, scorn, and ridicule among all the nations to which the LORD will drive you.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 44:14
You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples.
- Deuteronomy 28:37
Through
Job 30:9And now they mock me in song; I have become a byword among them.
it leads to
- Lamentations 3:63
When they sit and when they rise, see how they mock me in song.
- Lamentations 3:14
I am a laughingstock to all my people; they mock me in song all day long.
- Lamentations 3:63
Through
Genesis 31:27Why did you run away secretly and deceive me, without even telling me? I would have sent you away with joy and singing, with tambourines and harps.
it leads to
- Exodus 15:20
Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her with tambourines and dancing.
- Exodus 15:20
About Job
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XIII; Ishodad of Merv, COMMENTARY ON JOB 17:6; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.