171 My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are mine. 2 Are there not mockers around me? and doth [not] mine eye abide in their provocation? 3 Lay down now [a pledge], be thou surety for me with thyself: who is he that striketh hands with me? 4 For thou hast hidden their heart from understanding; therefore thou wilt not exalt [them]. 5 He that betrayeth friends for a prey—even the eyes of his children shall fail. 6 And he hath made me a proverb of the peoples; and I am become one to be spit on in the face. 7 And mine eye is dim by reason of grief, and all my members are as a shadow. 8 Upright men [shall be] astonished at this, and the innocent shall be stirred up against the ungodly; 9 But the righteous shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall increase in strength.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Job 17:1-9
Commentary on Job 17:1-9
(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.