Job 17 · Verse 6

Job 17:6

He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret.
Job 17:6, King James Version

Job 17:6 in other translations

BSBHe has made me a byword among the people, a man in whose face they spit.
WEB“But he has made me a byword of the people. They spit in my face.
ASVBut he hath made me a byword of the people; And they spit in my face.
YLTAnd he set me up for a proverb of the peoples, And a wonder before them I am.
DARBYAnd he hath made me a proverb of the peoples; and I am become one to be spit on in the face.
BBEHe has made me a word of shame to the peoples; I have become a mark for their sport.
WebsterHe hath made me also a by-word of the people; and in former time I was as a tabret.

What does Job 17:6 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
6. He--God. The poet reverentially suppresses the name of God when speaking of calamities inflicted. by-word--(De 28:37; Psa 69:11). My awful punishment makes my name execrated everywhere, as if I must have been superlatively bad to have earned it. aforetime ... tabret--as David was honored (1Sa 18:6). Rather from a different Hebrew root, "I am treated to my face as an object of disgust," literally, "an object to be spit upon in the face" (Nu 12:14). So Raca means (Mt 5:22) [Umbreit].

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 6 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 ותפת לפנים אהיה vethopheth lephanim eheyeh. Instead of לפנים lephanim, I would read לפניהם liphneghem, and then the clause might be translated thus: I shall be as a furnace, or consuming fire (Topheth) before them. 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.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Job 17:1-9

Job reflects upon the harsh censures his friends had passed upon him, and, looking on himself as a dying man, he appeals to God. Our time is ending. It concerns us carefully to redeem the days of time, and to spend them in getting ready for eternity. We see the good use the righteous should make of Job's afflictions from God, from enemies, and from friends. Instead of being discouraged in the service of God, by the…

Read the full comment on Job 17:1-9 →

Job 17:6 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וְֽ֭הִצִּגַנִיVe.hi.tzi.ga.niand he has set meH3322
לִמְשֹׁ֣לlim.Sholto use a proverbH4914
עַמִּ֑ים'a.MimpeoplesH5971
וְתֹ֖פֶתve.To.fetand a spittingH8611
לְפָנִ֣יםle.fa.Nimto [the] faceH6440
אֶֽהְיֶֽה\׃'Eh.YehI amH1961

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Job 17:6

  • Job 30:9

    And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.

  • Psalms 44:14

    Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people.

  • 1 Kings 9:7

    Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people:

  • Isaiah 5:12

    And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands.

  • Genesis 31:27

    Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and steal away from me; and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth, and with songs, with tabret, and with harp?

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
a by-word.
30:9; 1Ki 9:7; Ps 44:14
aforetime. or, before them. as a tabret.
Ge 31:27; Isa 5:12

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Job 17:5

    He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.

  • Job 17:6

    He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret.

  • Job 17:7

    Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.

Read all of Job 17

Job 17:6 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		El me ha puesto por parábola de pueblos, y delante de ellos he sido como tamboril.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Et il a fait de moi un proverbe des peuples, et je suis devenu un homme auquel on crache au visage.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Und er hat mich hingestellt zum Sprichwort der Völker, und ich bin zum Anspeien ins Angesicht.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Posuit me quasi in proverbium vulgi, et exemplum sum coram eis.