4 I am as one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God, and he answereth him: the just upright man is laughed to scorn.
4 "I have become a laughingstock to my friends, though I called on God and he answered- a mere laughingstock, though righteous and blameless!
4 I am a laughingstock to my friends; I, who called to God and he answered me, a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.
4 "I'm ridiculed by my friends: 'So that's the man who had conversations with God!' Ridiculed without mercy: 'Look at the man who never did wrong!'
4 "I am one mocked by his friends, Who called on God, and He answered him, The just and blameless who is ridiculed.
4 Yet my friends laugh at me, for I call on God and expect an answer. I am a just and blameless man, yet they laugh at me.
10 They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me.
10 People open their mouths to jeer at me; they strike my cheek in scorn and unite together against me.
10 Men have gaped at me with their mouth; they have struck me insolently on the cheek; they mass themselves together against me.
10 People take one look at me and gasp. Contemptuous, they slap me around and gang up against me.
10 They gape at me with their mouth, They strike me reproachfully on the cheek, They gather together against me.
10 People jeer and laugh at me. They slap my cheek in contempt. A mob gathers against me.
(Read Job 16:6-16)
Here is a doleful representation of Job's grievances. What reason we have to bless God, that we are not making such complaints! Even good men, when in great troubles, have much ado not to entertain hard thoughts of God. Eliphaz had represented Job as unhumbled under his affliction: No, says Job, I know better things; the dust is now the fittest place for me. In this he reminds us of Christ, who was a man of sorrows, and pronounced those blessed that mourn, for they shall be comforted.
20 My intercessor is my friend
20 My friends scorn me; my eye pours out tears to God,
20 My Champion, my Friend, while I'm weeping my eyes out before God.
20 My friends scorn me; My eyes pour out tears to God.
20 My friends scorn me, but I pour out my tears to God.
(Read Job 16:17-22)
Job's condition was very deplorable; but he had the testimony of his conscience for him, that he never allowed himself in any gross sin. No one was ever more ready to acknowledge sins of infirmity. Eliphaz had charged him with hypocrisy in religion, but he specifies prayer, the great act of religion, and professes that in this he was pure, though not from all infirmity. He had a God to go to, who he doubted not took full notice of all his sorrows. Those who pour out tears before God, though they cannot plead for themselves, by reason of their defects, have a Friend to plead for them, even the Son of man, and on him we must ground all our hopes of acceptance with God. To die, is to go the way whence we shall not return. We must all of us, very certainly, and very shortly, go this journey. Should not then the Saviour be precious to our souls? And ought we not to be ready to obey and to suffer for his sake? If our consciences are sprinkled with his atoning blood, and testify that we are not living in sin or hypocrisy, when we go the way whence we shall not return, it will be a release from prison, and an entrance into everlasting happiness.
2 Surely mockers surround me; my eyes must dwell on their hostility.
2 Surely there are mockers about me, and my eye dwells on their provocation.
2 See how these mockers close in on me? How long do I have to put up with their insolence?
2 Are not mockers with me? And does not my eye dwell on their provocation?
2 I am surrounded by mockers. I watch how bitterly they taunt me.
(Read 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 hard usage this faithful servant of God met with, they should be made bold to proceed and persevere therein. Those who keep their eye upon heaven as their end, will keep their feet in the paths of religion as their way, whatever difficulties and discouragements they may meet with.
6 "God has made me a byword to everyone, a man in whose face people spit.
6 "He has made me a byword of the peoples, and I am one before whom men spit.
6 "God, you've made me the talk of the town - people spit in my face;
6 "But He has made me a byword of the people, And I have become one in whose face men spit.
6 "God has made a mockery of me among the people; they spit in my face.
(Read 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 hard usage this faithful servant of God met with, they should be made bold to proceed and persevere therein. Those who keep their eye upon heaven as their end, will keep their feet in the paths of religion as their way, whatever difficulties and discouragements they may meet with.
22 Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?
22 Why do you pursue me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh?
22 Why do you, like God, pursue me? Why are you not satisfied with my flesh?
22 Do you have to be hard on me too? Don't you ever tire of abusing me?
22 Why do you persecute me as God does, And are not satisfied with my flesh?
22 Must you also persecute me, like God does? Haven't you chewed me up enough?
(Read Job 19:8-22)
How doleful are Job's complaints! What is the fire of hell but the wrath of God! Seared consciences will feel it hereafter, but do not fear it now: enlightened consciences fear it now, but shall not feel it hereafter. It is a very common mistake to think that those whom God afflicts he treats as his enemies. Every creature is that to us which God makes it to be; yet this does not excuse Job's relations and friends. How uncertain is the friendship of men! but if God be our Friend, he will not fail us in time of need. What little reason we have to indulge the body, which, after all our care, is consumed by diseases it has in itself. Job recommends himself to the compassion of his friends, and justly blames their harshness. It is very distressing to one who loves God, to be bereaved at once of outward comfort and of inward consolation; yet if this, and more, come upon a believer, it does not weaken the proof of his being a child of God and heir of glory.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Job 12:4
Commentary on Job 12:1-5
(Read Job 12:1-5)
Job upbraids his friends with the good opinion they had of their own wisdom compared with his. We are apt to call reproofs reproaches, and to think ourselves mocked when advised and admonished; this is our folly; yet here was colour for this charge. He suspected the true cause of their conduct to be, that they despised him who was fallen into poverty. It is the way of the world. Even the just, upright man, if he comes under a cloud, is looked upon with contempt.