Job Seventeen

by Dr. Henry M. Morris

(taken from the Defender's Study Bible)

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Job 17:1 My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me.

Job 17:2 Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation?

Job 17:3 Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me?

in a surety. Job is still hoping that some mediator will bear witness to his innocence (see note on Job 16:19), willing to make a pledge to intercede for him.

Job 17:4 For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt them.

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.

as a tabret. The Hebrew word here implies smiting, as an expression of contempt. That is, Job says he “was as one smitten.”

Job 17:7 Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.

Job 17:8 Upright men shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite.

Job 17:9 The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.

Job 17:10 But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you.

Job 17:11 My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.

Job 17:12 They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.

Job 17:13 If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.

Job 17:14 I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.

Job 17:15 And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?

Job 17:16 They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.

the pit. The word here is sheol, the pit deep in the earth which at that time was where the spirits of those who had died were being reserved, either in hope or in torment. See notes on Luke 16:19-31.