A verse by verse commentary on Job 17 dealing with the conclusion of his 5th speech.

1. JOB 17 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
1 My spirit is broken,
my days are cut short,
the grave awaits me.
BAR ES,"My breath is corrupt - Margin or “spirit is spent.” The idea is,
that his vital powers were nearly extinct; his breath failed; his power was
weakened, and he was ready to die. This is connected with the previous
chapter, and should not have been separated from it. There was no
necessity of making a new chapter here, and we have one of those
unfortunate breaks in the middle of a paragraph, and almost of a sentence,
which are too common in the Scriptures.
The graves are ready for me - The Hebrew is plural, but why so used I
know not. The Vulgate is singular - sepulchrum. The Septuagint renders it,
“I pray for a tomb (singular, ταφᇿταφᇿταφᇿταφᇿςςςς taphētaphētaphētaphēssss), but I cannot obtain it.” Possibly
the meaning is, “I am about to be united “to the graves,” or “to tombs.””
Schultens remarks that the plural form is common in Arabic poetry, as well
as in poetry in general.
CLARKE, "My breath is corrupt - Rather, My spirit is oppressed, ‫חבלה‬ ‫רוחי‬‫חבלה‬ ‫רוחי‬‫חבלה‬ ‫רוחי‬‫חבלה‬ ‫רוחי‬
ruchi chubbalahruchi chubbalahruchi chubbalahruchi chubbalah: My days are extinct, and the sepulchral cells are ready for me
- Parkhurst. There is probably a reference here to cemeteries, where were
several niches, in Each of which a corpse was deposited. See on Job_17:16
(note). For ‫חבלה‬‫חבלה‬‫חבלה‬‫חבלה‬ chubbalahchubbalahchubbalahchubbalah, corrupted or oppressed, some MSS. have ‫חלה‬‫חלה‬‫חלה‬‫חלה‬
chalahchalahchalahchalah, is made weak; and one has ‫גבלה‬‫גבלה‬‫גבלה‬‫גבלה‬ is worn down, consumed: this is
agreeable to the Vulgate, Spiritus meus attenuebatur; “My spirit is
exhausted.”
GILL, "My breath is corrupt,.... Through the force of his disease, which
made it have an ill smell, so that it was strange and disagreeable to his wife,

2. Job_19:17; passing through his lungs, or other parts, which were affected
with some disorder, or as frequently is the case of dying persons, and so Job
thought himself to be. The word (n) used has the signification of pain, even
of the pains of a woman in travail; and so may signify, that Job drew his
breath with great pain, as people troubled with an asthma do, or dying
persons in the hiccups, or just fetching their last breath; or "my spirit" (o),
as it may be rendered, that is, his vital spirits which were exhausted and
spent, there were scarce any left in him; or "my mind" (p), or soul, which
was overwhelmed with grief, and so disturbed, that he was not himself, but
in a manner distracted with the terrors of God, and the severity of his hand
upon him:
my days are extinct; here Job corrects himself; he had spoken of a few years
before, but it is as if he should say now, why do I talk of a few years, when I
have but a few days to live, and even those are as good as gone? meaning not
only his days of prosperity, which were at an entire end, as he thought, but
the days of his natural life; the lamp of life was almost burnt out, the oil was
spent, the wick was just extinguished, it was like the snuff of a candle going
out:
the graves are ready for me; the place of his fathers' sepulchres, the burial
place of his ancestors, where many graves were; or he may have respect to
various things into which the dead are put, as into so many graves; as
besides their being rolled up in linen, as was the way of the eastern
countries, there was the coffin, a sort of a grave, and which sometimes was
made of stone; and then the place dug in the earth, more properly called the
grave, and often over that a sepulchral monument was erected; so that there
was grave upon grave. Job does not seem to have any respect to the usage of
kings, and great personages, preparing stately monuments for themselves
while living, such as the pyramids of Egypt, built by and for their kings, as is
supposed; for the words "are ready" are not in the text, only supplied,
though they are also by the Targum; they are very short and significant in
the original text, "the graves for me", or they are mine; the grave is my
property, my house, where I expect shortly to be, and there to abide and
dwell until the resurrection, and which was desirable to him; "a grave to
me"; that is all that I desire, or can expect; here he wished to be, as he did
not doubt he quickly should be; and it is as if he should say, I am ready for
that, and so Jarchi paraphrases it; and happy is the man that is ready for
the grave, for death, and eternity, for the coming of his Lord, having the
grace of God wrought in him, and the righteousness of his living Redeemer
on him, which was Job's case; such an one shall go into the nuptial chamber
at once, and be received into everlasting habitations.
HE RY, "Job's discourse is here somewhat broken and interrupted, and
he passes suddenly from one thing to another, as is usual with men in
trouble; but we may reduce what is here said to three heads: -
I. The deplorable condition which poor Job was now in, which he
describes, to aggravate the great unkindness of his friends to him and to
justify his own complaints. Let us see what his case was.

3. 1. He was a dying man, Job_17:1. He had said (Job_16:22), “When a few
years have come, I shall go that long journey.” But here he corrects himself.
“Why do I talk of years to come? Alas! I am just setting out on that journey,
am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. My
breath is already corrupt, or broken off; my spirits are spent; I am a gone
man.” It is good for every one of us thus to look upon ourselves as dying,
and especially to think of it when we are sick. We are dying, that is, (1.) Our
life is going; for the breath of life is going. It is continually going forth; it is
in our nostrils (Isa_2:22), the door at which it entered (Gen_2:7); there it is
upon the threshold, ready to depart. Perhaps Job's distemper obstructed
his breathing, and short breath will, after a while, be no breath. Let the
Anointed of the Lord be the breath of our nostrils, and let us get spiritual
life breathed into us, and that breath will never be corrupted. (2.) Our time
is ending: My days are extinct, are put out, as a candle which, from the first
lighting, is continually wasting and burning down, and will by degrees burn
out of itself, but may by a thousand accidents be extinguished. Such is life. It
concerns us therefore carefully to redeem the days of time, and to spend
them in getting ready for the days of eternity, which will never be extinct.
(3.) We are expected in our long home: The graves are ready for me. But
would not one grave serve? Yes, but he speaks of the sepulchres of his
fathers, to which he must be gathered: “The graves where they are laid are
ready for me also,” graves in consort, the congregation of the dead.
Wherever we go there is but a step between us and the grave. Whatever is
unready, that is ready; it is a bed soon made. If the graves be ready for us, it
concerns us to be ready for the graves. The graves for me (so it runs),
denoting not only his expectation of death, but his desire of it. “I have done
with the world, and have nothing now to wish for but a grave.”
JAMISO ,"Job_17:1-16. Job’s answer continued.
breath ... corrupt — result of elephantiasis. But Umbreit, “my strength
(spirit) is spent.”
extinct — Life is compared to an expiring light. “The light of my day is
extinguished.”
graves — plural, to heighten the force.
K&D, "Hirz., Hlgst., and others, wrongly consider the division of the
chapter here to be incorrect. The thought in Job_16:22 is really a
concluding thought, like Job_10:20., Job_7:21. Then in Job_17:1 another
strain is taken up; and as Job_16:22 is related, as a confirmation, to the
request expressed in Job_16:19-21, so Job_17:1, Job_17:2 are related to that
expressed in Job_17:3. The connection with the conclusion of Job 16 is none
the less close: the thoughts move on somewhat crosswise (chiastisch). We
do not translate with Ewald: “My spirit is destroyed,” because ‫ל‬ ַ ֻ‫ח‬‫ל‬ ַ ֻ‫ח‬‫ל‬ ַ ֻ‫ח‬‫ל‬ ַ ֻ‫ח‬ (here and
Isa_10:27) signifies not, to be destroyed, but, to be corrupted, disturbed,
troubled; not the spirit (after Arab. chblchblchblchbl, usually of disturbance of spirit), but
the breath is generally meant, which is become short (Job_7:15) and
offensive (Job_19:17), announcing suffocation and decay as no longer far

4. distant. In Job_17:1 the ᅏᅏᅏᅏπ. γεγρ.π. γεγρ.π. γεγρ.π. γεγρ. ׁ‫ו‬‫כ‬ ָ‫ע‬ְ‫ז‬ִ‫נ‬ׁ‫ו‬‫כ‬ ָ‫ע‬ְ‫ז‬ִ‫נ‬ׁ‫ו‬‫כ‬ ָ‫ע‬ְ‫ז‬ִ‫נ‬ׁ‫ו‬‫כ‬ ָ‫ע‬ְ‫ז‬ִ‫נ‬ is equivalent to ‫נדעכו‬‫נדעכו‬‫נדעכו‬‫,נדעכו‬ found elsewhere.
In Job_17:1 ‫ים‬ ִ‫ר‬ ָ‫ב‬ ְ‫ק‬‫ים‬ ִ‫ר‬ ָ‫ב‬ ְ‫ק‬‫ים‬ ִ‫ר‬ ָ‫ב‬ ְ‫ק‬‫ים‬ ִ‫ר‬ ָ‫ב‬ ְ‫ק‬ is used as if the dead were called, Arab. ssâssâssâssâchib elchib elchib elchib el-kubûkubûkubûkubûrrrr,
grave-companions. He is indeed one who is dying, from whom the grave is
but a step distant, and still the friends promise him long life if he will only
repent! This is the mockery which is with him, i.e., surrounds him, as he
affirms, Job_17:1. A secondary verb, ‫ל‬ ַ‫ת‬ ָ‫ה‬‫ל‬ ַ‫ת‬ ָ‫ה‬‫ל‬ ַ‫ת‬ ָ‫ה‬‫ל‬ ַ‫ת‬ ָ‫,ה‬ is formed from the Hiph. ‫ל‬ ֵ‫ת‬ ֵ‫ה‬‫ל‬ ֵ‫ת‬ ֵ‫ה‬‫ל‬ ֵ‫ת‬ ֵ‫ה‬‫ל‬ ֵ‫ת‬ ֵ‫ה‬ (of
which we had the non-syncopated form of the fut. in Job_13:9), the Piel of
which occurs in 1Ki_18:27 of Elijah's derision of the priests of Baal, and
from this is formed the pluralet. ‫ּים‬‫ל‬ ֻ‫ת‬ ֲ‫ה‬‫ּים‬‫ל‬ ֻ‫ת‬ ֲ‫ה‬‫ּים‬‫ל‬ ֻ‫ת‬ ֲ‫ה‬‫ּים‬‫ל‬ ֻ‫ת‬ ֲ‫ה‬ (or, according to another reading,
‫ים‬ ִ ֻ‫ת‬ ֲ‫ה‬‫ים‬ ִ ֻ‫ת‬ ֲ‫ה‬‫ים‬ ִ ֻ‫ת‬ ֲ‫ה‬‫ים‬ ִ ֻ‫ת‬ ֲ‫,ה‬ with the same doubling of the ‫ל‬‫ל‬‫ל‬‫ל‬ as in ‫ּות‬ ַ‫ת‬ ֲ‫ֽה‬ ַ‫מ‬‫ּות‬ ַ‫ת‬ ֲ‫ֽה‬ ַ‫מ‬‫ּות‬ ַ‫ת‬ ֲ‫ֽה‬ ַ‫מ‬‫ּות‬ ַ‫ת‬ ֲ‫ֽה‬ ַ‫,מ‬ deceitful things, Isa_
30:10; comp. the same thing in Job_33:7, ‫ם‬ ‫ארא‬‫ם‬ ‫ארא‬‫ם‬ ‫ארא‬‫ם‬ ‫,ארא‬ their lions of God = heroes),
which has the meaning foolery, - a meaning questioned by Hirz. without
right, - in which the idea of deceit and mockery are united. Gecatilia and
Ralbag take it as a part.: mockers; Stick., Wolfson, Hahn: deluded; but the
analogy of ‫שׁעשׁעים‬‫שׁעשׁעים‬‫שׁעשׁעים‬‫,שׁעשׁעים‬ ‫תעלולים‬‫תעלולים‬‫תעלולים‬‫,תעלולים‬ and the like, speaks in favour of taking it as a
substantive. ‫ּא‬‫ל‬‫ם־‬ ִ‫א‬‫ּא‬‫ל‬‫ם־‬ ִ‫א‬‫ּא‬‫ל‬‫ם־‬ ִ‫א‬‫ּא‬‫ל‬‫ם־‬ ִ‫א‬ is affirmative (Ges. §155, 2, f). Ewald renders it as
expressive of desire: if only not (Hlgst.: dummodo ne); but this signification
(Ew. §329, b) cannot be supported. On the other hand, it might be intended
interrogatively (as Job_30:25): annon illusiones mecum (Rosenm.); but
this ‫אם־לא‬‫אם־לא‬‫אם־לא‬‫,אם־לא‬ corresponding to the second member of a disjunctive question,
has no right connection in the preceding. We therefore prefer the
affirmative meaning, and explain it like Job_22:20; Job_31:36, comp. Job_
2:5. Truly what he continually hears, i.e., from the side of the friends, is only
false and delusive utterances, which consequently sound to him like jesting
and mockery. The suff. in Job_17:2 refers to them. ‫ּות‬‫ר‬ ְ ַ‫ה‬‫ּות‬‫ר‬ ְ ַ‫ה‬‫ּות‬‫ר‬ ְ ַ‫ה‬‫ּות‬‫ר‬ ְ ַ‫ה‬ (with Dag.
dirimens, which renders the sound of the word more pathetic, as Job_9:18;
Joe_1:17, and in the Hiph. form ‫לתך‬ ‫כ‬‫לתך‬ ‫כ‬‫לתך‬ ‫כ‬‫לתך‬ ‫,כ‬ Isa_33:1), elsewhere generally (Jos_
1:18 only excepted) of rebellion against God, denotes here the contradictory,
quarrelsome bearing of the friends, not the dispute in itself (comp. Arab.
mrymrymrymry, III. to attack, VI. to contend with another), but coming forward
controversially; only to this is ‫י‬ִ‫ינ‬ ֵ‫ע‬ ‫ן‬ ַ‫ל‬ ָ‫י‬ִ‫ינ‬ ֵ‫ע‬ ‫ן‬ ַ‫ל‬ ָ‫י‬ִ‫ינ‬ ֵ‫ע‬ ‫ן‬ ַ‫ל‬ ָ‫י‬ִ‫ינ‬ ֵ‫ע‬ ‫ן‬ ַ‫ל‬ ָ suitable. ‫ין‬ ִ‫ל‬ ֵ‫ה‬‫ין‬ ִ‫ל‬ ֵ‫ה‬‫ין‬ ִ‫ל‬ ֵ‫ה‬‫ין‬ ִ‫ל‬ ֵ‫ה‬ must not be taken as = ‫ין‬ ִ ִ‫ה‬‫ין‬ ִ ִ‫ה‬‫ין‬ ִ ִ‫ה‬‫ין‬ ִ ִ‫ה‬
here; Ewald's translation, “only let not mine eye come against their
irritation,” forces upon this verb, which always signifies to murmur,
γογγύγογγύγογγύγογγύζεινζεινζεινζειν, a meaning foreign to it, and one that does not well suit it here. The
voluntative form ‫ן‬ ַ‫ל‬ ָ‫ן‬ ַ‫ל‬ ָ‫ן‬ ַ‫ל‬ ָ‫ן‬ ַ‫ל‬ ָ = ‫ן‬ ֵ‫ל‬ ָ‫ן‬ ֵ‫ל‬ ָ‫ן‬ ֵ‫ל‬ ָ‫ן‬ ֵ‫ל‬ ָ (here not the pausal form, as Jdg_19:20, comp.
2Sa_17:16) quite accords with the sense: mine eye shall linger on their
janglings; it shall not look on anything that is cheering, but be held fast by
this cheerless spectacle, which increases his bodily suffering and his inward
pain. From these comforters, who are become his adversaries, Job turns in
supplication to God.
BE SO , ". My breath is corrupt — Is offensive to those around me, through my

5. disease. But, as the word ‫,חבלה‬ chubbalah, here rendered corrupt, may signify
bound, straitened, or distressed with pain, as a woman in travail, Chappelow thinks
the phrase had better be rendered: Spiritus meus constringitur, vel, cum dolore
emititur; that is, I have such an oppression, that I can hardly breathe. The reading
of the margin, however, is not to be overlooked, My spirit is spent, or lost, that is,
my vital spirits and animal powers are wasted; my soul is ready to leave the body: I
am a gone man. My days are extinct — The lamp of my life is far spent, and upon
the point of going out. The graves are ready for me — That is, the grave; the plural
number being put for the singular. Or, he speaks of the sepulchres of his fathers, to
which he was to be gathered. Sol. Jarchi’s comment is, “I am ready for the grave.”
The text is only ‫לי‬ ‫,קברים‬ kebarim li, sepulchra mihi: The grave for me, or, I have the
grave. Any addition seems to spoil that elegancy of expression which consists in a
sudden, quick turn of thought; as if Job had said, My breath is gone; my days
extinct; I have a grave. Thus the Vulgate, Solum mihi superest sepulchrum, The
grave only remains for me. Wherever we go there is but a step between us and the
grave. The sepulchres where our fathers are laid are ready for us also. Whatever is
unready, the grave is ready. It is a bed soon made. And, if the grave be ready for us,
it concerns us to be ready for the grave.
COFFMA , "THE CO CLUSIO OF JOB'S FIFTH DISCOURSE
DeHoff's excellent summary of this chapter is: "Job's discourse here is broken, and
he passes suddenly from one thing to another, as is usual with men in trouble. He
pictures himself as a despised man, a man of sorrows, full of misery, abandoned by
his friends, and crying to God for mercy."[1] Rowley noted that the triple formation
in verse 1 indicates that, "Job was speaking in great emotional strain."[2]
Job 17:1-2
JOB REFERS TO HIS FRIE DS AS MOCKERS
"My Spirit is consumed, My days are extinct,
The grave is ready for me.
Surely there are mockers with me,
And mine eye dwelleth upon their provocation."
We like Van Selms' paraphrase of Job 17:1: "I spoke of years just now, but I am all
but dead now. I have no spirit left; I cannot do anything."[3]
"Surely there are mockers with me" (Job 17:2). "Job charged his friends with
mockery, the penalty of which (Deuteronomy 19:15-21) prescribed that the false
accuser would receive the punishment assigned to the crime wrongly alleged."[4] It
was perhaps to this that Job alluded in Job 17:5.

6. "Their provocation" (Job 17:2). This verse is obscure in meaning, as indicated by
various renditions: "Mine eye is weary of their contentiousness," or "Mine eyes are
wearied by your stream of peevish complaints."[5]
GUZIK, "A. Job directs a complaint both towards earth and towards heaven.
1. (Job 17:1-2) Job’s broken spirit.
“My spirit is broken,
My days are extinguished,
The grave is ready for me.
Are not mockers with me?
And does not my eye dwell on their provocation?”
a. My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished: Job continued his same sense of
defeat and brokenness as described in the previous chapter.
b. Are not mockers with me? The lack of sympathy and help from Job’s friends –
that they started out as sympathetic sufferers (as in Job 2:11-13) but became
mockers when Job did not respond to their wisdom as they thought he should – was
an especially painful aspect of his crisis.
PARKER, "Comforters and Flatterers
Job 17
In reading through the Book of Job up to this point, how often we forget what may
be termed the mental effects of the discipline Job was undergoing. We think of Job
as smitten down bodily, yea, as grievously afflicted in his flesh; we think of his losses
of children and of property; we see him sitting in the dust, a desolate man; all this is
in accord with the simple facts of the occasion: but have we not forgotten that some
disaster may have been wrought in the man"s mind? Has all this satanic discipline
befallen the Prayer of Manasseh , and is his mind in equipoise, in tranquillity; able
to look around the whole horizon of fact and purpose, and to consider it with
undiminished and unbeclouded reason; does no kind of insanity accompany some
temptations or trials? We shall find along that line of inquiry a large explanation of
mysteries which perplex the imagination, and sometimes indeed aggravate and
trouble the conscience. There is a psychological side to this discipline; Job"s soul
was tormented as well as Job"s body afflicted. We think of the sore boils, of the
grievous outbreakings of disease, of the rheum in the joints, of the gall shed upon

7. the ground;—all that is incidental, external. The real trouble is in the soul; his
reason rises, as it were, from the throne, and says, I will now leave thee; and a man
in that state is more to be pitied than the man who has gone farther into the mystery
of mental unbalancing and spiritual loss. It is in the process towards
unconsciousness, yea, towards madness, when we are partly Prayer of Manasseh ,
partly beast, partly devil, with just one gleam of deity shot through the tumult, that
we are most to be pitied. All proportions are altered—all colours, all harmonies, all
the parable of nature, all the apocalypse of the universe; everything is out of course,
out of square, out of balance, and the things we once relied upon as if they were
solid rock, feel as if they were giving way under our uncertain feet. One would
suppose that the devil"s work in the world has simply been to limit the days of our
life, to throw us into a kind of social disorder, and to set up a black ruler called
affliction to tyrannise over the strength and the fortune of man. The case lies
deeper: our reason is beclouded, the whole inner man sits now in twilight, now in
darkness; we see men as trees walking, we take hold of things by the wrong end, we
misquote familiar sayings, we invert all that has been established and ordained.
Unless we enter into this mystery of satanic power and discipline, we shall be
dealing with the exterior and never touching the spirit of things. The devil has got
hold of our hearts. We know that he has broken our bones, and filled our blood with
poison, and scattered premature snow upon our heads, and that he has taken cruelly
to dig our graves in our very sight—as if he might not have dug them in the dark,
and said nothing to us until we went through the pathway of flowers into the last
gloom. All that we know; but that is not enough to know: your thought is wrong—
that marvellous quantity within you which makes you a Prayer of Manasseh , which
lifts you by the measurement of a universe above the noblest fowl that ever spread
its pinions in the sunlight: the soul has been twisted, perverted, depraved, sown
thickly with black and pestilent ideas.
This is the explanation of all the intellectual tumult of the Book of Job up to this
point. Even the comforters were as much under satanic temptation as Job was, in
the broader sense; there was a keener accent for the moment in Job"s case than in
theirs, but we must never think of Job as a man to be pitied by men who need no
pity themselves. Job was a patriarch in more senses than one—a great world-
father—and all his children are black with the same temptations and sad with the
same distresses. Do not let us put away these old Bible men from us, as if they were
figures upon a blackboard meant to illustrate something that occurred long
centuries since. The Bible men are the men of all time. There are no other men. You
will find yourself ull-drawn, coloured to the last hue, in God"s great book of
portraiture.
Here, then, is Job with his ideas perverted, his hope covered over with midnight
gloom, his whole soul upheaved and troubled with an unspeakable distress. He has
lost the right conception of God. This is what occurred in Eden. Satan attacked the
ideas of men. Satan did not afflict Adam or Eve with some poor curable bodily
ailment: he whispered a question into the mind. Beware of question-asking. Who
asked the first question in the Bible? The devil. We have seen that there is a
question-asking which is reverent, which is part of the highest processes of

8. education; but there is also a question-asking which doubles the mind down into the
earth; troubles it with needless mysteries; throws across its adoration a dash of
wonder which becomes presently a blot of scepticism. "Yea, hath God said, Ye shall
not eat of every tree of the garden?" If you were to eat of this tree you would be
gods yourselves. So Job is now asking curious questions, which he never asked in
the days when the enemy was far away, and his prayer was a broad petition, as it
were a whole morning"s dew exhaling under the call of the sun. But now the very
proverbs he trusted to as revelations he misquotes, and misplaces, and misapplies;
and all established truth, to the great horror of Bildad the Shuhite, the typical
traditionalist, becomes a kind of blurred thing which belongs to nobody. This
accounts for the state of the world, and the state of what is temporarily called the
Church. Once the world stood in God, waited for God, loved God, felt a sense of
void and of hollowness in the absence of God: but ever since what invention, what
wondering, what misapprehension! The right construction of this need not be harsh.
When men are now plunging, groping, rushing forth with apparently irreverent and
impetuous audacity, why not say of them, They have lost their God, and they must
find him ere the sun go down?
Let us follow out a little in detail the experience of Job in this matter. Having lost
the right conception of God, he has been filled with a sense of self-
repugnance:—"My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct" ( Job 17:1); and then in
another place he says, "When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I
shall not return" ( Job 16:22). Throughout the whole of his speech he feels a sense of
self-disgust A strange and beautiful thing is that in the development of the history of
a soul. Man cannot be satisfied with himself; he says, There are lines of beauty, and
lines of strength; there are qualities not to be denied; but oh, the monotony of
myself! Why, it is Song of Solomon , as we have before said, with regard to nature.
There is nothing more monotonous than sunshine. The sunlight would tire you long
before the stars do. O weary, weary sunshine! we soon come to say, The grass is all
burned up, and the flowers seem to be afraid, as if they had sinned and had been
forsaken of the blessed Spirit; Oh send the clouds, the black rain-laden clouds, and
let them come, and let us see rainbows, and hear the plash of liquid music, and
observe the whole earth, as it were, rising in grateful appreciation of the long-
needed visitation! So a man becomes intolerably monotonous to himself if he think
about himself, and cannot complete himself by the idea of God; he sickens of
himself; he says, This self-analysis must go no farther; I have nothing else to do; I
am continually practising vivisection upon my own soul; I am tired of myself; my
very breath is corrupt, my days are extinct; I am offensive to myself. That is the
issue of human life without the right conception of God. We need God to give our
manhood its right expression, to limit it by its proper boundaries, to set it in its right
perspective, to give to it exceeding great and precious promises. Given a right
conception of God, the great One, and greatest of all because he loves with ineffable
affection, with infinite emotion, with tenderness that shrinks not from the agony of
the cross,—then we ourselves are but a little lower than God, we have
companionship that fits our necessity, that appeases the prayer of every instinct, and
gives us rest and hope. We need to withdraw from ourselves, in order to return to
ourselves with all our faculties in full force, and all our aspirations sanctified and

9. transformed into prayers. Man cannot live always under a roof of wood however
polished, or fresco however handled. Man was made to live under the sky. The roof
affords a momentary hospitality, which is precious; but taking the years in fives and
tens and twenties, carrying on human age to fifty, and farther on still, man says, Is
there nothing higher than this poor roof, which seems to be coming nearer and
nearer to me, threatening to crush me? Is there no firmament, no wide open sky? He
feels like a young bird, moved by an inexplicable fluttering, which, being
interpreted and magnified into its fullest meaning, signifies flying without wings and
without fear. You know by your experience that when you have lost the right
conception of God your life goes down into a sense of self-corruptness and self-
loathing, which is made up for in some degree by the fool"s policy of excitement,
amusement, dress, vanity, of every figure and every change: but the dead self is still
rotting, and presently the pestilence will make the air intolerable. Be wise in time.
Seek thy God, O Prayer of Manasseh , and in him alone wilt thou find true
manhood, joy unstained as morning dew and beautiful as morning light.
STRAHA , "XVII. i Tlie grave is ready for me. The Heb. has the
graves, and the plur. indicates that the poet does not alwa)s
remember that Job is a man of rank, who would naturally
be buried in a sepulchre (or house') of his own, but some-
times thinks of him as an ordinary citizen like himself, whose
lasting resting-place will be among the graves of the common
people."
PULPIT, "The general character of this chapter has been considered in the
introductory section to Job 16:1-22. It is occupied mainly with Job's complaints of
his treatment by his friends, and his lamentations over his sufferings (verses 1-12).
At the end he appeals to the grave, as the only hope or comfort left to him (verses
13-16).
Job 17:1
My breath is corrupt; or, my spirit is oppressed. But the physical meaning is the
more probable one. A fetid breath is one of the surest signs of approaching
dissolution. My days are extinct; or, cut off. The verb used does not occur elsewhere.
The graves are ready for me; or, the chambers of the grave are mine already. The
plural form is best explained by regarding it as referring to the niches commonly cut
in a sepulchral chamber to receive the bodies of the departed.
SPURGEO
"The graves are ready for me."—Job 17:1.

10. When attempting to prepare for this service, I found it impossible to fix my mind
upon any one subject. This afternoon, I had to take rather a long journey to visit a
friend who is sick unto death, and at his bedside I trust I have learned some lessons
of encouragement, and have been animated by witnessing the joy and peace which
God grants to his children in their declining hours. Finding that I could not fix upon
any one subject, I thought that I would have three. It may be that, out of the three,
there will be one intended by divine grace for a third of the audience, the second for
another third, and the other for the rest, so that there will be a portion of meat in
due season for all. You know, dear friends, that the motto of our navy is, "Ready,
ay, ready! "That is something like my present subject, for I have three texts in
which the word "Ready" occurs, each time in a different connection.
I. The first text will be specially addressed to those who are under concern of soul,
having been led, by the enlightening influence of the Divine Spirit, to see their state
by nature, and to tremble in the prospect of their deserved doom. The text which
will suit their case is in Isaiah 27:13: "READY TO PERISH, "They shall come
which were ready to perish."
By nature, all men, whether they know it or not, are ready to perish. Human nature
is, like a blind man, always in danger; nay worse than that, it is like a blind man
upon the verge of a tremendous cliff, ready to take the fatal step which will lead to
his destruction. The most callous and proud, the most careless and profane, cannot,
by their indifference or their boasting, altogether evade the apprehension that their
state, by nature, is alarming and defenseless. They may try to laugh it away from
their minds, but they cannot laugh away the fact. They may shut their eyes to it; but
they shall no more escape, by shutting their eyes, than doth the silly ostrich escape
from the hunter by thrusting its head into the sand. Whether thou wilt have it so, or
no, fast young man in the dawn of thy days;—whether thou wilt have it so, or no,
blustering merchant in the prime of thine age;—whether thou wilt have it so, or no,
hardened old man in the petrified state of thy moral conscience;—it is so: thou art
ready to perish. Thy jeers cannot deliver thee; thy sarcasms about eternal wrath
cannot quench it; and all thy contemptuous scorn and thine arrogant pride cannot
evade thy doom, they do but hasten it. There are some persons, however, who are
aware of their danger; to them I speak. They are fitly described by the Spirit of God
in these words of the prophet: "The great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall
come which were ready to perish." Having passed through this anguish myself, I
think I can describe, from experience, what some of you are now suffering.
You are ready to perish, in the first place, because you feel sure that you will perish.
You did not think so once, but you do now. Once, you could afford to put away the
thought, with a laugh, as a matter which might, or might not, be true; but, anyhow,
it did not much concern you. But, now, you feel that you will be lost as surely as if it
could be demonstrated to you by logic. In fact, the divine logic of the law has
thundered it into your soul, and you know it. You feel it to be certain that you shall,
ere long, be driven from the presence of God with that terrible sentence, "Depart, ye
cursed." If any unbeliever should tell you that there is no wrath to come, you would
reply, "There is, for I feel it is due to me. My conscience tells me that I am

11. condemned already, and ere long I am quite certain to drink of the wormwood and
the gall of the wrath of God." You have signed your own death-warrant, you have
put on the black cap, and condemned yourself; or, rather, you have pleaded guilty
before your Judge, you have said, "Guilty, my Lord;" and now you think you see
before your eye the scaffold, and yourself ready to be executed. You feel it to be so
sure that you even anticipate the judgment day; you dreamed of it, the other night,
and you thought you heard the trumpet of the archangel opening all the graves, and
wakening all the dead. You have already, in imagination, stood before the bar of
God; you feel your sentence to be so certain that conscience has read it over in your
hearing, and anticipated its terrors. You are among those who are ready to perish,
so permit me to say that I am glad you have come here, for this is the very spot
where God delights to display his pardoning grace. He is ready to save those who
are thus ready to perish. Those who write themselves down as lost are the special
objects of our Savior's mission of mercy, for "the Son of man is come to seek and to
save that which was lost."
You are ready to perish, in another sense, for you feel as if your perishing was very
near. You are like the dying man who gasps for breath, and thinks that each gasp
must be his last; his pulse is feeble, his tongue is dry with feverish heat, the clammy
sweat is on his brow. The valley of the shadow of death casts its gloomy shade on his
pale cheeks, and he feels that he must soon die. Is it not thus that some of you feel
just now? You feel that you are coming near to the wrath of God. I have known the
day when, as I lay down to rest, I dreaded the thought that, perhaps, I should never
awake in this world; or, at mid-day, I have walked in the fields, and wondered that
the earth did not open, and swallow me up. A terrible noise was in my ears; my soul
was tossed to and fro; I longed to find a refuge, but there seemed to be none; while
ever ringing in my ears were the words, "The wrath to come!" "The wrath to
come!" "The wrath to come! "Oh, how vividly is the wrath to come pictured before
the eyes of the awakened sinner! He does not look upon it as a thing that is to come
in ten, twelve, or twenty years, but as a thing that may be before long, yea, even
today. He looks upon himself as ready to perish because his final overthrow appears
to be so close. I am glad if any of you are in this plight, for God does not thus alarm
men unless he has purposes of mercy concerning them, and designs for their good.
He has made you fear you are perishing that you may have no perishing to fear. He
has brought it home to you in this life that he may remove it for ever from you in the
life that is to come. He has made you tremble now that you may not tremble then.
He has put before you these dreadful things that, as with a fiery finger, they may
point you to Christ, the only refuge, and, as with a thundering voice, they may cry to
you, as the angels cried to Lot, "Escape for thy life, look not behind thee, neither
stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed."
It may be that I am also addressing some, who not only realize the sureness and the
nearness of their destruction, but they have begun to feel it. "Begun to feel it," says
someone; "is that possible?" Yes, that it is; when day and night God's hand is heavy
upon us, and our moisture is turned into the drought of summer, we begin to know
something of what a sinner feels when justice and the law are let loose upon him.
Did you ever read John Bunyan's "Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners"?

12. There was a man who had, even here, foretastes of the miseries of the lost; and there
are some of us who can, even now, hardly look back to the time of our conviction
without a shudder. I hope there is not a creature alive who has had deeper
convictions than I had, or five years of more intolerable agony than those which
crushed the very life out of my youthful spirit. But this I can say, that terror of
conscience, that alarm about the wrath of God, that intense hatred of past sin, and
yet consciousness of my inability to avoid it in the future, were such combinations of
thought that I can only describe them in George Herbert's words,—
"My thoughts are all a case of knives
Breaking my poor heart."
Oh, the tortures of the man who feels his guilt, but does not know the remedy for it!
To look leprosy in the face, but not to know that it may be healed! To walk the
lazar-house, and hear that there is no physician there! To see the flame, but not to
know, that it can be quenched! To be in the dungeon, but never to know the rescue
and deliverance! O ye that are ready to perish, I sympathize with you in your
present sufferings, but I do not lament them! This is the way in which God begins
with those whom he intends to bless;—not to the same degree in all, but yet after the
same kind. He destroys our confidence in our own works, and then gives us
confidence in Christ's work. You know how Bunyan describes Christian as being
much tumbled up and down in his mind; and when his wife and children came
round about him, he could only tell them that the city in which they lived was to be
destroyed; and though his easy-going neighbors told him not to believe it, and not to
make such a fuss about it, the truth had come home to him with too much power to
be put away. Atheist might say it was all a lie, and Pliable might give slight heed to
it, and pretend to believe it for a season; but Christian knew it to be true, so he ran
to the wicket gate, and the cross, that he might escape from the wrath to come. To
the careless, these words, "Ready to perish," should sound an alarm. May God the
Holy Spirit, while I preach upon the second text, enable me to blow the great
trumpet of the jubilee! May the gladsome sound reach the heart of him that is ready
to perish! May he know that divine mercy brought him here that he might find a
God ready to pardon!"
2 Surely mockers surround me;
my eyes must dwell on their hostility.

13. BAR ES,"Job 17:2. Are there not mockers with me? — Do not my friends, instead
of comforting, mock and abuse me, as if I had made use of religion only as a cloak to
cover my wickedness? Thus he returns to what he had said chap. Job 16:20), and
intimates the necessity and justice of his following appeal, which otherwise might
have been thought too bold. And doth not mine eye continue in their provocation?
— That is, doth not their provocation continue in mine eye? Do not I still behold
them provoking me to my face? Or he may speak of the eye of his mind, and then
the meaning is, Their provoking scoffs and reproaches do not only molest me in the
day-time, when they are with me, but lodge with me (for the word ‫,תלן‬ talan, here
rendered continue, signifies to lodge) in the night, and are continually in my
thoughts.
CLARKE, "Are there not mockers with me? - This has been variously
translated. The Vulgate: “I have not sinned, and yet my eye dwells upon
afflictions.” Septuagint: “I conjure you, laboring under afflictions, what evil
have I done? Yet strangers have robbed me of my substance.” Mr. Good:
“But are not revilers before me? Alas, mine eye penetrateth their rebukes.”
Calmet thinks the Hebrew might be translated thus: “If I have not been
united in friendship with the wicked, why are my eyes in bitterness?”
Coverdale translates both verses thus: My breth fayleth, my dayes are
shortened, I am harde at deathes dore. I have disceaved no man, yet must
myne eye continue in hevynesse. Mr. Heath “Were it not so, I have
sarcasms enow in store; and I could spend the whole night unmoved at their
aggravations.” The general meaning is sufficiently plain, and the reader has
got translations enough.
GILL, "Are there not mockers with me?.... Meaning not irreligious persons,
such as make a mock at sin, a jest of religion, a laugh at good men, sneer at
the doctrines and ordinances of God, and scoff at things future, as the
coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and a future judgment; with
whom it is very uncomfortable to be, as well as with any sort of profane
men, and such there were no doubt in Job's time; but he seems to design his
friends, by whom be thought himself mocked, and who were, as he
imagined, scorners of him, Job_12:4; and therefore for this reason entreats
his case might be heard, and his cause pleaded:
and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation? or "lodge all night"
(q); his sense is, that they were continually provoking him with their words,
their scoffs and jeers, their censures and calumnies, and the weak reasons
and arguments they made use of to support their charges and suspicions;
these dwelt upon his mind not only in the daytime but in the night, so that
he could not get a wink of sleep for them; their words were so teasing and
distressing, and they acted such a cruel part to him, and stuck so close to
him, and hung upon his thoughts, that he could not get clear of them in the
night season; but his mind ran upon them, which kept him waking, that he
could not close his eyelids for thinking of them.

14. HE RY, "II. The ill use which his friends made of his miseries. They
trampled upon him, and insulted over him, and condemned him as a
hypocrite, because he was thus grievously afflicted. Hard usage! Now
observe,
1. How Job describes it, and what construction he puts upon their
discourses with him. He looks upon himself as basely abused by them. (1.)
They abused him with their foul censures, condemning him as a bad man,
justly reduced thus and exposed to contempt, Job_17:2. “They are mockers,
who deride my calamities, and insult over me, because I am thus brought
low. They are so with me, abusing me to my face, pretending friendship in
their visit, but intending mischief. I cannot get clear of them; they are
continually tearing me, and they will not be wrought upon, either by reason
or pity, to let fall the prosecution.” (2.) They abused him too with their fair
promises, for in them they did but banter him. He reckons them (Job_17:5)
among those that speak flattery to their friends. They all came to mourn
with him. Eliphaz began with a commendation of him, Job_4:3. They had all
promised him that he would be happy if he would take their advice. Now all
this he looked upon as flattery, and as designed to vex him so much the
more. All this he calls their provocation, Job_17:2. They did what they could
to provoke him and then condemned him for his resentment of it; but he
thinks himself excusable when his eye continued thus in their provocation:
it never ceased, and he never could look off it. Note, The unkindness of
those that trample upon their friends in affliction, that banter and abuse
them then, is enough to try, if not to tire, the patience even of Job himself.
JAMISO ,"Umbreit, more emphatically, “had I only not to endure
mockery, in the midst of their contentions I (mine eye) would remain
quiet.”
eye continue — Hebrew, “tarry all night”; a figure taken from sleep at
night, to express undisturbed rest; opposed to (Job_16:20), when the eye of
Job is represented as pouring out tears to God without rest.
COKE, "Job 17:2. Are there not mockers with me?— Were it not so, I have
sarcasms enough in store, and I could spend the whole night unmoved at their
aggravations. Heath. See chap. Job 24:25. It is very plain to me, says Peters, that as
Job in the fourth verse directs his speech to God, so in the two preceding he points
at and addresses himself to his mistaken friends: Are there not mockers with me?
Lay down now (some earnest or pledge), put me in a surety with thee; who is he that
will strike hands with me? i.e. Which of you, who thus mock and insult me, will
venture to try your cause before the Supreme Judge? o; they shew a want of
understanding in thus rashly censuring me; and were they to bring their cause
before thee, O God, thou wouldst not exalt them; i.e. they would be cast in the trial.
This sense, we see, is very obvious and easy: the change of the person addressed, and
the several breaks in the sentence, only shew the earnestness of the speaker, and are
both natural and elegant.

15. PULPIT, "Are there not mockers with me? literally, mockeries—the abstract for the
concrete. (For the sentiment, comp. Job 16:20 and Job 30:1-14.) And doth not mine
eye continue in their provocation? i.e. "Have I anything else to look upon? Are not
the mockers always about me, always provoking me?"
STRAHA , "2 Surely there axe mockers with me. The text of this verse
(as of several others in the chapter) is probably corrupt, and the
meaning can only be conjectured. The Heb. does not read
'mockers, 3 but 'mockery*; and the reference can scarcely be to
the delusive hopes of recovery which Job's friends at first held out
to him, for such hopes are suppressed in the second cycle of the
Dialogues. Duhm, who translates 2b * And mine eye abideth on
bitter things,' supposes that the mockery and the bitterness refer
to the cruel lot which God has appointed for Job.
3 "Give me, O God, the pledge you demand.
Who else will put up security for me?
BAR ES,"Lay down now - This is evidently an address to God - a
repetition of the wish which he had so often expressed, that he might be
permitted to bring his cause directly before him; see Job_13:3. The whole
passage here is obscure, because we are in a great measure ignorant of the
ancient practices in courts of law, and of the ancient forms of trial. The
general sense seems to be, that Job desires the Deity to enter into a judicial
investigation, and to give him a “pledge” - or, as we should say, a “bond,” or
“security” - that he would not avail himself of his almighty power, but would
place him on an equality in the trial, and allow him to plead his cause on
equal terms; see the notes at Job_13:20-22. The phrase “lay down now”
means, lay down a pledge, or something of that kind; and may have referred
to some ancient custom of giving security on going to trial, that no
advantage would be taken, or that the parties would abide by the decision in
the case.
Put me in a surety with thee - The word used here (‫ערבני‬‫ערבני‬‫ערבני‬‫ערבני‬ ‛‛‛‛âââârabrabrabrabııııynynynyn) is from ‫ערב‬‫ערב‬‫ערב‬‫ערב‬
‛‛‛‛âââârabrabrabrab, to mix, mingle; to exchange, to barter and then to become surety for
anyone - that is, to “exchange” places with him, or to stand in his place;
Gen_43:9; Gen_44:32. Here the idea seems to be, that Job wished the Deity
to give him some pledge or security that justice would be done, or that he

16. would not take advantage of his power and majesty to overawe him. Or, as
has been remarked, it may refer to some custom of furnishing security on a
voluntary trial or arbitration, that the award of the referees would be
observed. I think it most probable that this is the idea. The controversy here
was to be voluntary. In a voluntary trial, or an arbitration, there is a
necessity of some security by the parties that the decision shall be submitted
to - a pledge to each other that they will abide by it. Such a pledge Job
desired in this case. All this is language taken from courts, and should not
be pressed too much, nor should Job be hastily charged with irreverence.
Having once suggested the idea of a “trial” of the cause, it was natural for
him to use the language which was commonly employed in reference to such
trials; and these expressions are to be regarded as thrown in for the sake of
“keeping,” or verisimilitude.
Who is he that will strike hands with me? - Striking hands then, as now,
seems to have been one mode of confirming an agreement, or ratifying a
compact. The idea here is,” Who is there that will be surety to me for thee?”
that is, for the faithful observance of right and justice. There is an
appearance of irreverence in this language, but it arises from carrying out
the ideas pertaining to a form of trial in a court. In entering into “sureties,”
it was usual to unite hands; see Pro_6:1 :
My son, if thou be surety for thy friend,
If thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger.
So Pro_17:18 :
A man void of understanding striketh hands,
And becometh surety in the presence of his friend
Compare Pro_11:15; Pro_22:26. The same custom prevailed in the times
of Homer and of Virgil. Thus, Homer (Iliad, ββββ bbbb. 341) says:
Ποሞ δᆱΠοሞ δᆱΠοሞ δᆱΠοሞ δᆱ -
- δεξιαᆳ ᅬδεξιαᆳ ᅬδεξιαᆳ ᅬδεξιαᆳ ᅬςςςς ᅚπέᅚπέᅚπέᅚπέπιθµενπιθµενπιθµενπιθµεν -
Pou de4 -
- dexiaidexiaidexiaidexiai hēhēhēhēssss epepithmenepepithmenepepithmenepepithmen -
And so Virgil (Aeneid 4:597) says;
- en dextra fidesque.
CLARKE, "Lay down now - Deposit a pledge; stake your conduct against
mine, and your life and soul on the issue; let the cause come before God, let
him try it; and see whether any of you shall be justified by him, while I am
condemned.

17. GILL, "Lay down now,.... A pledge that thou wilt provide a surety, appoint
and admit one to plead for me, and that thou wilt hear my cause, and
determine it; or "put now", or "put, I pray thee" (r), thy heart and mind to
me and my case, to my petition and request, and grant it:
put me in a surety with thee; appoint, provide, and place a surety for me
with thee, and let him appear to do his work and office: such an one Jesus
Christ is; he is of God the Father's appointing to be the Mediator between
God and men, and who himself voluntarily engaged and agreed to be the
surety of the better testament; and this was known to the Old Testament
saints, and to Job; and his prayer was the prayer of faith: and this work and
office Christ performs; he was surety for his people from eternity, he drew
nigh to God on their account, and struck hands with his Father, or
covenanted and agreed with him about the salvation of his people, and the
manner of it; he gave his word, his bond, to his Father for them, that he
would save them; and upon that suretyship engagement of Christ all the Old
Testament saints were pardoned, justified, and glorified; he promised and
bound himself to pay all their debts, to satisfy for all their sins, to bring in
an everlasting righteousness for them, and to bring them all safe to heaven
and happiness; in order to which, he put himself in their room and stead,
and laid down his life a ransom for them; upon which Job might say, and so
may every believer, what follows,
who is he that will strike hands with me? that will enter the lists, litigate
and dispute the point with me, or bring any charge or accusation against
me, having such a surety to answer for me, such an advocate to plead my
cause, such a Mediator between God and man, who has made reconciliation
for sin, brought in everlasting righteousness, and satisfied law and justice,
see Rom_8:33; or else the sense is, "who is he", besides him that is a surety
of God's appointing and providing, "can strike bands with me?" or be a
surety for me? there is no other Mediator, Saviour, or Redeemer, besides
him; if he had not undertaken the cause of his people, and the redemption
of them, it must have ceased for ever, no other was equal to such a work; so
that here is another reason used with the Lord to provide a surety, since no
other could to any purpose.
HE RY, "3. How he appeals from them to God (Job_17:3): Lay down now,
put me in a surety with thee, that is, “Let me be assured that God will take
the hearing and determining of the cause into his own hands, and I desire
no more. Let some one engage for God to bring on this matter.” Thus those
whose hearts condemn them not have confidence towards God, and can
with humble and believing boldness beg of him to search and try them.
Some make Job here to glance at the mediation of Christ, for he speaks of a
surety with God, without whom he durst not appear before God, nor try his
cause at his bar; for, though his friends' accusations of him were utterly
false, yet he could not justify himself before God but in a mediator. Our
English annotations give this reading of the verse: “Appoint, I pray thee, my
surety with thee, namely, Christ who is with thee in heaven, and has
undertaken to be my surety let him plead my cause, and stand up for me;
and who is he then that will strike upon my hand?” that is, “Who dares

18. then contend with me? Who shall lay any thing to my charge if Christ be an
advocate for me?” Rom_8:32, Rom_8:33. Christ is the surety of the better
testament (Heb_7:22), a surety of God's appointing; and, if he undertake for
us, we need not fear what can be done against us.
JAMISO ,"Lay down now — namely, a pledge or security; that is, be my
surety; do Thou attest my innocence, since my friends only mock me (Job_
17:2). Both litigating parties had to lay down a sum as security before the
trial.
put me in a surety — Provide a surety for me (in the trial) with Thee. A
presage of the “surety” (Heb_7:22), or “one Mediator between God and
man” (see on Job_16:21).
strike hands — “who else (save God Himself) could strike hands with me?”
that is, be my security (Psa_119:122). The Hebrew strikes the hand of him
for whom he goes security (Pro_6:1).
K&D 3-5, "It is unnecessary, with Reiske and Olsh., to read ‫י‬ִ‫ּנ‬‫ב‬ ְ‫ר‬ ֵ‫ע‬‫י‬ִ‫ּנ‬‫ב‬ ְ‫ר‬ ֵ‫ע‬‫י‬ִ‫ּנ‬‫ב‬ ְ‫ר‬ ֵ‫ע‬‫י‬ִ‫ּנ‬‫ב‬ ְ‫ר‬ ֵ‫ע‬ (pone
quaeso arrhabonem meum = pro me) in order that ‫ה‬ ָ‫ימ‬ ִ‫שׂ‬‫ה‬ ָ‫ימ‬ ִ‫שׂ‬‫ה‬ ָ‫ימ‬ ִ‫שׂ‬‫ה‬ ָ‫ימ‬ ִ‫שׂ‬ may not stand
without an object; ‫שׂימה‬‫שׂימה‬‫שׂימה‬‫שׂימה‬ has this meaning included in it, and the ‫י‬ִ‫נ‬ ֵ‫ב‬ ְ‫ר‬ፎ‫י‬ִ‫נ‬ ֵ‫ב‬ ְ‫ר‬ፎ‫י‬ִ‫נ‬ ֵ‫ב‬ ְ‫ר‬ፎ‫י‬ִ‫נ‬ ֵ‫ב‬ ְ‫ר‬ፎ which
follows shows that neither ‫לבך‬‫לבך‬‫לבך‬‫לבך‬ (Ralbag) nor ‫ידך‬‫ידך‬‫ידך‬‫ידך‬ (Carey) is to be supplied;
accordingly ‫שׂים‬‫שׂים‬‫שׂים‬‫שׂים‬ here, like Arab. wᏻwᏻwᏻwᏻ‛‛‛‛ (wâᏻwâᏻwâᏻwâᏻ‛‛‛‛), and in the classics both τιθέτιθέτιθέτιθέναιναιναιναι and
ponere, signifies alone the laying down of a pledge. Treated by the friends as
a criminal justly undergoing punishment, he seeks his refuge in God, who
has set the mark of a horrible disease upon him contrary to his desert, as
though he were guilty, and implores Him to confirm the reality of his
innocence in some way or other by laying down a pledge for him (ᆓποθήᆓποθήᆓποθήᆓποθήκηκηκηκη).
The further prayer is ‫י‬ִ‫נ‬ ֵ‫ב‬ ְ‫ר‬ ָ‫ע‬‫י‬ִ‫נ‬ ֵ‫ב‬ ְ‫ר‬ ָ‫ע‬‫י‬ִ‫נ‬ ֵ‫ב‬ ְ‫ר‬ ָ‫ע‬‫י‬ִ‫נ‬ ֵ‫ב‬ ְ‫ר‬ ָ‫,ע‬ as word of entreaty which occurs also in
Hezekiah's psalm, Isa_38:14, and Psa_119:122; ‫ב‬ ַ‫ר‬ ָ‫ע‬‫ב‬ ַ‫ר‬ ָ‫ע‬‫ב‬ ַ‫ר‬ ָ‫ע‬‫ב‬ ַ‫ר‬ ָ‫ע‬ seq. acc. signifies, as
noted on the latter passage, to furnish surety for any one, and gen. to take
the place of a mediator (comp. also on Heb_7:22, where ᅞᅞᅞᅞγγυοςγγυοςγγυοςγγυος is a synon. of
µεσίµεσίµεσίµεσίτηςτηςτηςτης). Here, however, the significant ְ‫ך‬ ָ ִ‫ע‬ְ‫ך‬ ָ ִ‫ע‬ְ‫ך‬ ָ ִ‫ע‬ְ‫ך‬ ָ ִ‫ע‬ is added: furnish security for me
with Thyself; elsewhere the form is ְ‫ל‬ְ‫ל‬ְ‫ל‬ְ‫ל‬ ‫ערב‬‫ערב‬‫ערב‬‫,ערב‬ to furnish security for (Pro_6:1),
or ‫י‬ֵ‫נ‬ ְ‫פ‬ ִ‫ל‬‫י‬ֵ‫נ‬ ְ‫פ‬ ִ‫ל‬‫י‬ֵ‫נ‬ ְ‫פ‬ ִ‫ל‬‫י‬ֵ‫נ‬ ְ‫פ‬ ִ‫ל‬ before, any one, here with ‫ם‬ ִ‫ע‬‫ם‬ ִ‫ע‬‫ם‬ ִ‫ע‬‫ם‬ ִ‫ע‬ of the person by whom the security is to
be accepted. The thought already expressed in Job_16:21 receives a still
stronger expression here: God is conceived of as two persons, on the one
side as a judge who treats Job as one deserving of punishment, on the other
side as a bondsman who pledges himself for the innocence of the sufferer
before the judge, and stands as it were as surety against the future. In the
question, Job_17:3, the representation is again somewhat changed: Job
appears here as the one to whom surety is given. ‫ע‬ ַ‫ק‬ ְ‫ת‬ִ‫נ‬‫ע‬ ַ‫ק‬ ְ‫ת‬ִ‫נ‬‫ע‬ ַ‫ק‬ ְ‫ת‬ִ‫נ‬‫ע‬ ַ‫ק‬ ְ‫ת‬ִ‫,נ‬ described by
expositors as reciprocal, is rather reflexive: to give one's hand (the only
instance of the med. form of ‫ף‬ ַⅴ‫ף‬ ַⅴ‫ף‬ ַⅴ‫ף‬ ַⅴ ‫ע‬ ַ‫ק‬ ָ‫ע‬ ַ‫ק‬ ָ‫ע‬ ַ‫ק‬ ָ‫ע‬ ַ‫ק‬ ָ ) = to give surety by striking hands,

19. dextera data sponsionem in se recipere (Hlgst.). And ‫י‬ ִ‫ד‬ָ‫י‬ ְ‫ל‬‫י‬ ִ‫ד‬ָ‫י‬ ְ‫ל‬‫י‬ ִ‫ד‬ָ‫י‬ ְ‫ל‬‫י‬ ִ‫ד‬ָ‫י‬ ְ‫ל‬ is not to be
explained after the analogy of the passive, as the usual ְ‫ל‬ְ‫ל‬ְ‫ל‬ְ‫ל‬ of the agents: who
would allow himself to be struck by my hand, i.e., who would accept the
surety from me (Wolfson), which is unnatural both in representation and
expression; but it is, according to Pro_6:1 (vid., Bertheau), intended of the
hand of him who receives the stroke of the hand of him who gives the
pledge. This is therefore the meaning of the question: who else (‫הוּא‬‫הוּא‬‫הוּא‬‫הוּא‬ ‫י‬ ִ‫מ‬‫י‬ ִ‫מ‬‫י‬ ִ‫מ‬‫י‬ ִ‫,)מ‬ if not
God himself, should strike (his hand) to my hand, i.e., should furnish to me
a pledge (viz., of my innocence) by joining hands? There is none but God
alone who can intercede for him, as a guarantee of his innocence before
himself and others. This negative answer: None but Thou alone, is
established in Job_17:4. God has closed the heart of the friends against
understanding, prop. concealed, i.e., He has fixed a curtain, a wall of
partition, between their hearts and the right understanding of the matter;
He has smitten them with blindness, therefore He will not (since they are
suffering from a want of perception which He has ordained, and which is
consequently known to Him) allow them to be exalted, i.e., to conquer and
triumph. “The exaltation of the friends,” observes Hirzel rightly, “would be,
that God should openly justify their assertion of Job's guilt.” Löwenthal
translates: therefore art thou not honoured; but it is not pointed ‫ם‬ ֵ‫ּמ‬‫ר‬ ֵ‫ם‬ ֵ‫ּמ‬‫ר‬ ֵ‫ם‬ ֵ‫ּמ‬‫ר‬ ֵ‫ם‬ ֵ‫ּמ‬‫ר‬ ֵ =
‫ם‬ ֵ‫ּמ‬‫ר‬ ְ‫ת‬ ִ‫ם‬ ֵ‫ּמ‬‫ר‬ ְ‫ת‬ ִ‫ם‬ ֵ‫ּמ‬‫ר‬ ְ‫ת‬ ִ‫ם‬ ֵ‫ּמ‬‫ר‬ ְ‫ת‬ ִ , but ‫ם‬ ֵ‫ּמ‬‫ר‬ ְ‫ם‬ ֵ‫ּמ‬‫ר‬ ְ‫ם‬ ֵ‫ּמ‬‫ר‬ ְ‫ם‬ ֵ‫ּמ‬‫ר‬ ְ , whether it be that ‫ם‬ ָ‫ּת‬‫א‬‫ם‬ ָ‫ּת‬‫א‬‫ם‬ ָ‫ּת‬‫א‬‫ם‬ ָ‫ּת‬‫א‬ is to be supplied, or that it is
equivalent to ‫ם‬ ֵ‫מ‬ ְ‫ּמ‬‫ר‬ ְ‫ם‬ ֵ‫מ‬ ְ‫ּמ‬‫ר‬ ְ‫ם‬ ֵ‫מ‬ ְ‫ּמ‬‫ר‬ ְ‫ם‬ ֵ‫מ‬ ְ‫ּמ‬‫ר‬ ְ (Ew. §62, a, who, however, prefers to take is as n.
Hithpa. like ‫ם‬ ֵ‫ּמ‬‫ק‬ ְ‫ם‬ ֵ‫ּמ‬‫ק‬ ְ‫ם‬ ֵ‫ּמ‬‫ק‬ ְ‫ם‬ ֵ‫ּמ‬‫ק‬ ְ in the unimproved signification: improvement, since he
maintains this affords no right idea), according to the analogy of similar
verb-forms (Job_31:15; Isa_64:6), by a resolving of the two similar
consonants which occur together.
The hope thus expressed Job establishes (Job_17:5) by a principle from
general experience, that he who offers his friends as spoil for distribution
will be punished most severely for the same upon his children: he shall not
escape the divine retribution which visits him, upon his own children, for
the wrong done to his friends. Almost all modern expositors are agreed in
this rendering of ‫ק‬ ֶ‫ל‬ ֵ‫ח‬ ְ‫ל‬‫ק‬ ֶ‫ל‬ ֵ‫ח‬ ְ‫ל‬‫ק‬ ֶ‫ל‬ ֵ‫ח‬ ְ‫ל‬‫ק‬ ֶ‫ל‬ ֵ‫ח‬ ְ‫ל‬ as regards Job_17:5; but ‫חלק‬‫חלק‬‫חלק‬‫חלק‬ must not be translated
“lot” (Ewald), which it never means; it signifies a share of spoil, as e.g.,
Num_31:36 (Jerome praedam), or even with a verbal force: plundering
(from ‫ק‬ ַ‫ל‬ ָ‫ח‬‫ק‬ ַ‫ל‬ ָ‫ח‬‫ק‬ ַ‫ל‬ ָ‫ח‬‫ק‬ ַ‫ל‬ ָ‫,ח‬ 2Ch_28:21), or even in antithesis to entering into bond for a
friend with all that one possesses (Stick., Schlottm.), a dividing (of one's
property) = distraining, as a result of the surrender to the creditor, to which
the verb ‫יד‬ִ ִ‫ה‬‫יד‬ִ ִ‫ה‬‫יד‬ִ ִ‫ה‬‫יד‬ִ ִ‫ה‬ is appropriate, which would then denote denouncing before a
court of justice, as Jer_20:10, not merely proclaiming openly, as Isa_3:9.
We have translated “spoil,” which admits of all these modifications and
excludes none; the general meaning is certainly: one deserts (instead of
shielding as an intercessor) his friends and delivers them up; ‫יד‬ִ ַ‫י‬‫יד‬ִ ַ‫י‬‫יד‬ִ ַ‫י‬‫יד‬ִ ַ‫י‬ with a
general subj., as Job_4:2 (if any one attempts), Job_15:3; Job_27:23. With
respect to the other half of the verse, Job_17:5, the optative rendering: may
they languish (Vaih.), to the adoption of which the old expositors have been

20. misled by parallels like Psa_109:9., is to be rejected; it is contrary to the
character of Job (Job_31:30). We agree with Mercerus: Nequaquam hoc per
imprecationem, sed ut consequentis justissimae poenae denunciationem
ab Iobo dictum putamus. For v. 5b is also not to be taken as a circumstantial
clause: even if the eyes of his children languish (Ew., Hlgst. Stick., Hahn,
Schl.). It is not ‫הוּ‬ ֵ‫ע‬ ֵ‫ר‬‫הוּ‬ ֵ‫ע‬ ֵ‫ר‬‫הוּ‬ ֵ‫ע‬ ֵ‫ר‬‫הוּ‬ ֵ‫ע‬ ֵ‫,ר‬ but ‫ים‬ ִ‫ע‬ ֵ‫ר‬‫ים‬ ִ‫ע‬ ֵ‫ר‬‫ים‬ ִ‫ע‬ ֵ‫ר‬‫ים‬ ִ‫ע‬ ֵ‫;ר‬ and before supposing here a Synallage num. so
liable to be misunderstood, one must try to get over the difficulty without it,
which is here easy enough. Hence Job is made, in the intended application
of the general principle, to allude to his own children, and Ewald really
considers him the father of infant children, which, however, as may be seen
from the prologue, is nothing but an invention unsupported by the history.
Since it is ‫בניו‬‫בניו‬‫בניו‬‫בניו‬ and not ‫בניהם‬‫בניהם‬‫בניהם‬‫,בניהם‬ we refer the suff. to the subj. of ‫יגיד‬‫יגיד‬‫יגיד‬‫.יגיד‬ The Waw of
‫י‬ֵ‫ינ‬ ֵ‫ע‬ְ‫ו‬‫י‬ֵ‫ינ‬ ֵ‫ע‬ְ‫ו‬‫י‬ֵ‫ינ‬ ֵ‫ע‬ְ‫ו‬‫י‬ֵ‫ינ‬ ֵ‫ע‬ְ‫ו‬ Mich. calls Waw consecutivum; it, however, rather combines things that
are inseparable (certainly as cause and effect, sin and punishment). And it
is ‫יגיד‬‫יגיד‬‫יגיד‬‫,יגיד‬ not ‫הגיד‬‫הגיד‬‫הגיד‬‫,הגיד‬ because the perf. would describe the fact as past, while the
fut. places us in the midst of this faithless conduct. Job says God cannot
possibly allow these, his three friends, the upper hand. One proclaims his
friends as spoil (comp. Job_6:27), and the eyes of his children languish
(comp. Job_11:20), i.e., he who so faithlessly disowns the claims of
affection, is punished for it on that which he holds most dear. But this
uncharitableness which he experiences is also a visitation of God. In the
next strophe he refers all that he meets with from man to Him as the final
cause, but not without a presage of the purpose for which it is designed.
BE SO , "Job 17:3. Lay down now — Some earnest or pledge. Put me in a surety
with thee — Let me have an assurance that God will take the hearing and
determining of the cause into his own hands, and I desire no more. Who is he that
will strike hands with me? — That is, agree and promise, or be surety to me,
whereof striking or joining hands was the usual sign. But, probably, we ought
rather to consider Job as addressing God in these words, and then we must
understand them as containing an humble desire that he would be his surety, or
would appoint him a surety, who should maintain his righteous cause against his
opposers. “Our English annotations,” says Henry, “give this reading of the verse;
Appoint, I pray thee, my surety with thee, namely, Christ, who is with thee in
heaven, and hath undertaken to be my surety: let him plead my cause, and stand up
for me, and who is he then that will strike upon my hand? that is, who dares then
contend with me? Who shall lay any thing to my charge, if Christ be an advocate for
me? Romans 8:32-33. Christ is the surety of the better testament, (Hebrews 7:22,) a
surety of God’s appointing; and if he undertake for us we need not fear what can be
done against us.”
COFFMA , ""Be surety for me with thyself" (Job 17:3). The next clause demands
a negative answer; and since Job's friends who normally should be his surety are
not willing to do so, Job prays that God Himself will be his surety in the day of
Judgment. Here again we have that magnificent leap of faith which envisioned God

21. Himself as surety for Job against God Himself in the Judgment. What a marvelous
premonition (rather inspiration) of God the Son being Surety for his saints against
God the Father's Judgment! As Kline expressed it, "This was Job's prayer for God
to establish Job's integrity at the Judgment."[6] " Job 17:3 is clearly Job's appeal
for God his Judge to be also God his Witness or Advocate as well."[7]
"For thou hast hid their heart from understanding" (Job 17:4). Job here stated that
his friends' blindness was due to God's having blinded them, and therefore they
thought Job was guilty. But, since they were most certainly wrong, their error would
prevent God's exalting them. Driver complained that the text here is "hopelessly
corrupt."[8] evertheless, the rendition we have here (American Standard Version)
makes excellent sense. ot only will God be unable to exalt Job's mocking friends
(serving in this great drama as prime agents of the devil); but they will also incur
the penalty pointed out in Job 17:5.
"He that denounceth his friends for a prey" (Job 17:5). It is not clear exactly what
particular sin against Job is meant by this; but whatever it was, a severe penalty
would overtake them, exactly the same penalty mentioned above in Job 17:2
(Deuteronomy 19:15ff). "This verse (Job 17:5), as translated here, is a threat to
Job's friends that their denunciations of him will be punished by the sufferings of
their children."[9]
ELLICOTT, "(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 Psalms 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. Psalms 49:7.)
PULPIT, "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

22. undertakes the investigation of the case. ext, 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."
STRAHA , "3 Head, Deposit now a pledge for me with thyself, avoiding
an awkward break in the middle of the line by reading the
second verb, e be surety for me ' C 1 ??!^)? as a noun, 6 my pledge,'
or * a pledge for me ' ('pnjf). The first verb (no*b>) thus gets its
natural meaning *lay down' instead of 'give now a pledge.'
Job's desire is that some one who believes in his innocence
should give a pledge to God for him a guarantee that means
will be used to get his righteousness established. But he
naturally asks who will strike hands with him, /.*. undertake
suretyship, since no man can give a pledge to God, or such a
pledge as would satisfy Him. Job is thus driven to ask God to
deposit a pledge for him with Himself, God being regarded as
both Judge and Surety. The thought of a pledge implies that
the trial is not to take place at once. Before it comes off Job
will have died ; but he confidently expects that after his death
there will be a revulsion of feeling in the divine mind, and then
he will obtain the fair trial which he has sought in vain during
his lifetime. It is against the day of his posthumous trial that
he asks God to be his surety with God. c It is impossible for
him to attribute wrath and grace, as he experiences them both, to
the same God; he must apportion them to two Gods. Only
the anticipation that the wrathful God will ultimately be over-
come by the gracious God, makes it possible for him, in spite of
his division between God and God, to hold fast his religion.
GUZIK, "2. (Job 17:3-5) Job begs heaven to sustain and support him.
“ ow put down a pledge for me with Yourself.
Who is he who will shake hands with me?
For You have hidden their heart from understanding;
Therefore You will not exalt them.
He who speaks flattery to his friends,

23. Even the eyes of his children will fail.”
a. Who is he who will shake hands with me? Job felt – rightly so, according to his
circumstances – that heaven was against him. Here he plead for an agreement of
peace between himself and heaven.
i. The IV translation of Job 17:3 is helpful: Give me, O God, the pledge you
demand. Who else will put up security for me? The idea is that Job cried out to God
and said, “You will have to set this right God; it is beyond me to do it.” This is
especially meaningful in light of the main idea of Job’s friends, that it was his
responsibility to repent and set things right between himself and God.
ii. In a small way, Job grasped the whole tone of salvation under the ew Covenant:
God has made the atonement and the reconciliation; we do not have to do it
ourselves.
b. You have hidden their heart from understanding: Job understood that if God had
wanted to inform the hearts of Job’s friends, He was fully capable of doing so.
Ultimately even the unsympathetic manner of his friends was an aspect of Job’s
crisis allowed by God.
c. Therefore You will not exalt them: At the same time, Job’s friends were
accountable for their lack of understanding. God’s withholding of understanding
from them was an evidence of His displeasure towards them.
d. He who speaks flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children will fail: Job
here seemed to justify his harsh words towards his friends. He recognizes that it
would be a bad reflection on his character if he were to simply flatter them.
i. “Job 17:5 is a proverb. Job was reminding his counselors of the dire consequences
of slander.” (Smick)
4 You have closed their minds to understanding;
therefore you will not let them triumph.
BAR ES,"For thou hast hid their heart from understanding - That is, the
heart of his professed friends. Job says that they were blind and perverse,
and indisposed to render him justice; and he therefore pleads that he may
carry his cause directly before God. He attributes their want of

24. understanding to the agency of God in accordance with the doctrine which
prevailed in early times, and which is so often expressed in the Scriptures,
that God is the source of light and truth, and that when people are blinded it
is in accordance with his wise purposes; see Isa_6:9-10. It is “because” they
were thus blind and perverse, that he asks the privilege of carrying the
cause at once up to God - and who could blame him for such a desire?
Therefore thou shalt not exalt them - By the honor of deciding a case like
this, or by the reputation of wisdom. The name of sage or “wise” man was
among the most valued in those times; but Job says that that would not be
awarded to his friends. God would not exalt or honor people thus devoid of
wisdom.
CLARKE, "For thou hast hid their heart - This address is to God; and here
he is represented as doing that which in the course of his providence he only
permits to be done.
Shalt thou not exalt them - This was exactly fulfilled: not one of Job’s
friends was exalted; on the contrary, God condemned the whole; and they
were not received into the Divine favor till Job sacrificed, and made
intercession for them.
GILL, "For thou hast hid their heart from understanding,.... That is, the
hearts of his friends, and therefore they were unfit to undertake his cause,
or be sureties for him, or be judges in it. It is the same thing as to hide
understanding from their hearts, which God sometimes does in a natural
sense; when men like not the knowledge of him, as attainable by the light of
nature, he gives them up to reprobate minds, minds void of knowledge and
judgment in things natural; and sometimes, in a spiritual sense, he hides
men's hearts from the knowledge of things divine and evangelical, and even
this he does from the wise and prudent of this world; yea, sometimes he
hides the knowledge of his providential dealings with men from his own
people, as he did from Asaph, Jeremiah, Habakkuk, and others; and, as it
seems, from Job's friends, who therefore mistook his case, and were very
unfit and insufficient to determine it:
therefore shalt thou not exalt them; to such honour and dignity, to be
umpires, arbitrators, or judges in the case of Job; this God had reserved for
another, Elihu, or rather himself, who decided the controversy between Job
and his friends, and declared in his favour, and that they had not spoken the
thing that was right of him, as his servant Job had done, Job_42:7;
HE RY, "2. How he condemns it. (1.) It was a sign that God had hidden
their heart from understanding (Job_17:4), and that in this matter they
were infatuated, and their wonted wisdom had departed from them.
Wisdom is a gift of God, which he grants to some and withholds from
others, grants at some times and withholds at other times. Those that are
void of compassion are so far void of understanding. Where there is not the
tenderness of a man one may question whether there be the understanding

25. of a man. (2.) It would be a lasting reproach and diminution to them:
Therefore shalt thou not exalt them. Those are certainly kept back from
honour whose hearts are hidden from understanding. When God infatuates
men he will abase them. Surely those who discover so little acquaintance
with the methods of Providence shall not have the honour of deciding this
controversy! That is reserved for a man of better sense and better temper,
such a one as Elihu afterwards appeared to be. (3.) It would entail a curse
upon their families. He that thus violates the sacred laws of friendship
forfeits the benefit of it, not only for himself, but for his posterity: “Even the
eyes of his children shall fail, and, when they look for succour and comfort
from their own and their father's friends, they shall look in vain as I have
done, and be as much disappointed as I am in you.” Note, Those that wrong
their neighbours may thereby, in the end, wrong their own children more
than they are aware of.
JAMISO ,"their heart — The intellect of his friends.
shalt ... exalt — Rather imperative, “exalt them not”; allow them not to
conquer [Umbreit], (Isa_6:9, Isa_6:10).
BE SO , "Job 17:4. Thou hast hid their heart from understanding — Rather, thou
hast hid understanding from their heart. The minds of my friends are so blinded,
that they cannot see those truths which are most plain and evident to all men of
sense and experience. Hence, I desire a more wise and able judge. Therefore shalt
thou not exalt them — Thou wilt not give them the victory over me in this contest,
but wilt give sentence for me, and make them ashamed of their confidence in
affirming falsehoods of thee, and wilt punish them severely for their misconduct.
STRAHA , "4 This unmetrical and obscure verse is omitted by the LXX.
Who are alluded to as lacking understanding ? and whom will
God not exalt ? A bitter reference on Job's part to his friends at
such a moment is unlikely. Bickell and Duhm delete the verse.
If it is retained, the meaning, strangely expressed, would seem
to be that such men are unfit to deposit a pledge on Job's
behalf,
5 If a man denounces his friends for reward,
the eyes of his children will fail.

26. BAR ES,"He that speaketh flattery to his friends - Noyes renders this,
“He that delivers up his friend as a prey, the eyes of his children shall fail.”
So Wemyss, “He who delivers up his friends to plunder.” Dr. Good, “He that
rebuketh his friends with mildness, even the eyes of his children shall be
accomplished.” The Septuagint, “He announces evil for his portion; his eyes
fail over his sons.” The Vulgate, “He promises spoil to his companions, and
the eyes of his sons fail.” The word rendered “flattery” (‫חלק‬‫חלק‬‫חלק‬‫חלק‬ chêchêchêchêleqleqleqleq) properly
means “that which is smooth, smoothness” (from ‫חלק‬‫חלק‬‫חלק‬‫חלק‬ châchâchâchâlaqlaqlaqlaq to be smooth);
and thence it denotes “a lot” or “portion,” because “a smooth stone” was
anciently used to cast lots in dividing spoils; Deu_18:8. Here it is
synonymous with plunder or spoil; and the idea is, that he who betrayeth
his friends to the spoil or to the spoiler, the eyes of his children shall fail.
The meaning in this connection is, that the friends of Job had acted as one
would who should announce the residence of his neighbors to robbers, that
they might come and plunder them. Instead of defending him, they had
acted the part of a traitor. Schultens says that this verse is “a Gordian knot;”
and most commentators regard it as such; but the above seems to give a
clear and consistent meaning. It is evidently a proverb, and is designed to
bear on the professed friends of Job, and to show that they had acted a
fraudulent part toward him. In Job_17:4, he had said that God had hid their
heart from understanding, and that wisdom had failed them. He “here” says
that in addition to a want of wisdom, they were like a man who should
betray his neighbors to robbers.
Even the eyes of his children shall fail - He shall be punished. To do this is
a crime, and great calamity shall come upon him, represented by the failure
of the eyes of his children. Calamity is not unfrequently expressed by the
loss of the eyes; see Pro_30:17.
CLARKE, "He that speaketh flattery - There is a great variety of meaning
given to the terms in this verse. The general sense is, The man who expects
much from his friends will be disappointed: while depending on them his
children’s eyes may fail in looking for bread.
GILL, "He that speaketh flattery to his friends,.... As Job's friends did to
him when they promised great outward prosperity, and a restoration to his
former state, and to a greater affluence upon his repentance and
reformation; or when they spoke deceitfully for God, pretending great
regard to the honour of his justice and holiness, and therefore insisted on it
that he must be a wicked man and an hypocrite, that was afflicted by him, as
Job was:
even the eyes of his children shall fail; so hateful are some sins to God, and
particularly deceitful tongues, and flattering lips, that he will punish them
in their posterity; the eyes of their children shall fail for want of sustenance,
and while they are looking in vain for salvation and deliverance out of

27. trouble, see Exo_20:4.
JAMISO ,"The Hebrew for “flattery” is “smoothness”; then it came to
mean a prey divided by lot, because a smooth stone was used in casting the
lots (Deu_18:8), “a portion” (Gen_14:24). Therefore translate, “He that
delivers up his friend as a prey (which the conduct of my friends implies
that they would do), even the eyes,” etc. [Noyes] (Job_11:20). Job says this
as to the sinner’s children, retorting upon their reproach as to the cutting
off of his (Job_5:4; Job_15:30). This accords with the Old Testament
dispensation of legal retribution (Exo_20:5).
STRAHA , "5 He that denoanceth his friends for a prey: Le. he that
resorts to law in order to distrain their goods, or reduce them-
selves to bond-service, or otherwise injure them. It is extremely
difficult to see the relevancy of this proverb. Duhm regards it
as a marginal quotation. Siegfried thinks the text Is hopelessly
corrupt
BE SO , "Job 17:5. He that speaketh flattery to his friends — “The Hebrew of this
verse,” says Peters, “literally, runs thus: He shall reckon friends for a portion, or
inheritance, and the eyes of his children shall fail; that is, with expectation. They
may look their eyes out before they receive any benefit or assistance from these
friends. The expression is proverbial, intimating how liable men are to be
disappointed, who depend upon the constancy of human friendships. And nothing
could be more apposite to Job’s purpose.” Heath renders the words,” Whoso
becometh the accuser of his friends, the eyes of his children will fail; that is, not only
he, but his sons after him may look till they be weary, before they get more.” Bishop
Patrick’s paraphrase on this and the two preceding verses appears to be perfectly
consistent with the context, and is certainly well deserving of the reader’s attention.
Lay down now, &c. Job 17:3. “Once more, therefore, I beseech thee, O God, to
assure me that thou wilt judge my cause thyself; let somebody undertake for thee;
who is it, that on thy behalf will engage to do me right? Job 17:4. ot these friends
of mine, for they comprehend nothing of the way of thy judgments: therefore thou
shalt not confer this honour on them who talk so absurdly. Job 17:5. I must speak
the truth of them, (though it displease them,) and not sooth them up in their errors:
for he that flatters his friends, when he should reprove them, may look long enough
before either he, or his children, find one that will deal sincerely with them.” We
add also the following interpretation of this verse, proposed by Poole. “He that
uttereth, or declareth his mind, or thoughts, with flattery, or to flatter, or deceive
another, he shall be severely punished, not only in his person, but even in his
children, whose eyes shall fail with vain expectations of relief, and deliverance out of
those calamities which shall come upon them for this sin of their parents.”

28. COKE, "Job 17:5. He that speaketh flattery to his friends— The Hebrew of this
verse literally runs thus: ‫לחלק‬ ‫יגיד‬ ‫רעים‬ ‫ועיני‬ ‫בניו‬ ‫תכלננ‬ lechelek yaggiid reiim veeinei
banaiv tiklenah, He shall reckon friends for a portion or inheritance, and the eyes of
his children shall fail; i.e. with expectation. They may look their eyes out before they
receive any benefit or assistance from these friends. The expression is proverbial,
intimating how liable men are to be disappointed who depend upon the constancy of
human friendships; and nothing could be more apposite to Job's purpose. Peters.
ELLICOTT, "(5) He that speaketh flattery to his friends.—The three words thus
rendered are, from their very brevity, most obscure. Literally, they run: for a
portion he will tell friends. But what is the meaning of this? Some render, “He
denounceth his friends for a prey,” i.e., such is the conduct of Job’s friends towards
Job. Others understand it, “He would say, friends should take their part,” i.e., any
one who would undertake to be surety for me would naturally expect my friends to
share the responsibility; but so far from this, the eyes of his sons would fail in
looking for it; they would never see it.
PARKER, "Job found himself surrounded by flatterers.
"He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail" (
Job 17:5).
This is the position of affairs today: we are surrounded by comforters,—that is to
say, by men who do not understand us, and whose words have no relation to our
experience. Hence oftentimes the empty church. The world knows that what the
man of "words" is talking about has no relation to the killing pain, the intolerable
sorrow, the unutterable agony of life. So the fool often beats the preacher herein,
that he can at least often excite, or intoxicate, and create a momentary illusion apt to
be mistaken for a permanent satisfaction. And we are surrounded by flatterers, men
who tell us that after all we are not so bad. Look at your conduct: you pay your way,
you keep your word, you are faithful to your marriage, you are known in the
neighbourhood as an upright citizen—why, where will they match you? And the
heart all the time says, Such talk is flattery, such talk is falsehood. I know all they
say, but it was done by the hand; it is a trick of mine. I keep my clock right by
putting the hands backwards and forwards just as the general time requires, and
they think the clock keeps its own time; all my morality is etymological, and really a
manner, an attitude; I pay my bills punctually because I have an object, which I will
not disclose: but they are telling lies all the time, they are not touching my soul with
any comfort; in my soul I despise their flattery, and I blow out the candles of hope
which they would set in the window of my soul. Do not believe the flatterers. They
will tell you that if you attend to sanitary discipline, to all personal rule and self-
subjection, if you store your intellect, if you cultivate your taste, you will pass
through the world honourably. Let your soul speak; ask it at midnight what it
thinks of all the flare and garish ness held before it in the vulgar day. Let your
conscience speak; speak to yourself. Do not make a noise in the ear,—that is not

29. talking to yourself—but hold your soul to an exercise of spiritual attention, and the
soul will tell you that everything that addresses itself to fancy, to manner, to custom,
to bondage, is a lying deity, a false angel, a worthless gospel.
Observe how, without the right conception of God, all proverbs and maxims as
quoted so fluently by the man of yellow hair from the land of pleasantness, Zophar
and aamathite, are turned upside down: they are quoted, but the old music does
not come back with them:—
PULPIT, "He that speaketh flattery to his friends; rather, he that denounceth his
friends for a prey. Job means to accuse his "comforters" of so acting. By their
persistent belief in his grievous wickedness they give him up, as it were, for a prey to
calamity, which they pronounce him to have deserved on account of his secret sins.
Even the eyes of his children shall fail. Whoever so acts shall be punished, not only
in his own person, but also in the persons of his descendants (comp. Exodus 20:5)
6 "God has made me a byword to everyone,
a man in whose face people spit.
BAR ES,"He hath also - That is, God has done this.
Also a by-word - A proverb (‫משׁל‬‫משׁל‬‫משׁל‬‫משׁל‬ mâshâmâshâmâshâmâshâllll); 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, ‫פנים‬‫פנים‬‫פנים‬‫פנים‬ pâpâpâpânnnnııııymymymym. 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 (γέγέγέγέλωςλωςλωςλως gelōgelōgelōgelōssss) to them.” The Chaldee renders it, “Thou hast
placed me for a proverb to the people, and I shall be Gehenna (‫גיהנם‬‫גיהנם‬‫גיהנם‬‫גיהנם‬
gayhgayhgayhgayhınnôınnôınnôınnômmmm) to them.” The Hebrew word ‫תפת‬‫תפת‬‫תפת‬‫תפת‬ tôtôtôtôphethphethphethpheth - 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

30. tabor or small drum; though the word ‫תף‬‫תף‬‫תף‬‫תף‬ tophtophtophtoph is thus used; see the notes at
Isa_5:12. The word used here is derived, probably, from the obsolete verb
‫תיף‬‫תיף‬‫תיף‬‫תיף‬ typtyptyptyp - “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.
CLARKE, "He 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 ‫ותפת‬‫ותפת‬‫ותפת‬‫ותפת‬
‫אהיה‬ ‫לפנים‬‫אהיה‬ ‫לפנים‬‫אהיה‬ ‫לפנים‬‫אהיה‬ ‫לפנים‬ vethopheth lephanim eheyehvethopheth lephanim eheyehvethopheth lephanim eheyehvethopheth lephanim eheyeh. Instead of ‫לפנים‬‫לפנים‬‫לפנים‬‫לפנים‬ lephanimlephanimlephanimlephanim, I would read
‫לפניהם‬‫לפניהם‬‫לפניהם‬‫לפניהם‬ liphneghemliphneghemliphneghemliphneghem, and then the clause might be translated thus: I shall be as a
furnace, or consuming fire (Topheth) before them. They shall have little
reason to mock when they see the end of the Lord’s dealings with me; my
example will be a consuming fire to them, and my false friends will be
confounded. Coverdale translates thus: He hath made me as it were a
byworde of the comon people. I am his gestinge stocke amonge them.
GILL, "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 name of Job is to this day a byword or proverb among
men, both for his poverty and his patience; if a man is described as very
poor, he is said to be as poor as Job; or if very patient under his afflictions,
he is said to be as patient as Job; but as neither of these are to the disgrace
of Job, something else seems rather intended here, even something to his
reproach; as when a man was represented as a very wicked man, or an
hypocrite, it used to be said, such an one is as wicked a creature, and as
arrant an hypocrite, as Job:
and aforetime I was as a tabret; the delight of the people, who, when he
appeared in the public streets, came out and went before him, singing, and
dancing, and beating on tabrets, and such like musical instruments, to
express their joy upon the sight of him; but now it was otherwise with him,
and he whom they could not sufficiently extol and commend, now knew not
well what to say bad enough of him; such a change in the sentiments and

31. conduct of men must needs be very chagrining: or "aforetime I was as a
lord", as Ben Gersom, from the use of the word in Dan_3:2; as he supposes;
he was like a lord or nobleman, or as one in some high office, and now as the
offscouring of all things; or it denotes what he was "before them", the
people, in their sight at present, and should be: the word used is "Tophet",
which Aben Ezra takes to be the name of a place, and as it seems of that
place where children were offered to Moloch, and which place was in being,
and such practices used by the Canaanites in the times of Job; and this
place, which was also called the valley of Hinnom, being afterwards used for
hell, led the Targum to paraphrase the words thus, "and hell from within
shall I be"; and so Sephorno, in appearance hell to all that see me; and in
general it may signify that he was, or should be, avoided, as any unclean
place, very ungrateful and disagreeable, as that place was; or as anything
abominable, and to be loathed and rejected, and this way go several
interpreters (s); though some think respect is had to the punishment of
tympanization, in which sufferers were beaten upon in several parts of their
bodies, as if men were beating upon a tabret or drum, which gave great pain
and torment, see Heb_11:35; and with such like cruelty and indignity Job
suggests he was or should be used; and therefore begs for a surety, for one
to interpose and plead on his behalf; let the carriage of men to him be what
it will, that is here referred to; compare with this Psa_69:11.
HE RY 6-7, "2. He was a despised man (Job_17:6): “He” (that is, Eliphaz,
so some, or rather God, whom he all along acknowledges to be the author of
his calamities) “has made me a byword of the people, the talk of the
country, a laughing-stock to many, a gazing-stock to all; and aforetime (or
to men's faces, publicly) I was as a tabret, that whoever chose might play
upon.” They made ballads of him; his name became a proverb; it is so still,
As poor as Job. “He has now made me a byword,” a reproach of men,
whereas, aforetime, in my prosperity, I was as a tabret, deliciae humani
generis - the darling of the human race, whom they were all pleased with. It
is common for those who were honoured in their wealth to be despised in
their poverty.
3. He was a man of sorrows, Job_17:7. He wept so much that he had
almost lost his sight: My eye is dim by reason of sorrow, Job_16:16. The
sorrow of the world thus works darkness and death. He grieved so much
that he had fretted all the flesh away and become a perfect skeleton, nothing
but skin and bones: “All my members are as a shadow. I have become so
poor and thin that I am not to be called a man, but the shadow of a man.”
JAMISO ,"He — God. The poet reverentially suppresses the name of God
when speaking of calamities inflicted.
by-word — (Deu_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” (Num_12:14). So Raca means
(Mat_5:22) [Umbreit].