Job 17:6
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
He has made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret.
American King James Version (AKJV)
He has made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret.
American Standard Version (ASV)
But he hath made me a byword of the people; And they spit in my face.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
He has made me a word of shame to the peoples; I have become a mark for their sport.
Webster's Revision
He hath made me also a by-word of the people; and in former time I was as a tabret.
World English Bible
"But he has made me a byword of the people. They spit in my face.
English Revised Version (ERV)
He hath made me also a byword of the people; and I am become an open abhorring.
Definitions for Job 17:6
Clarke's Job 17:6 Bible Commentary
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.
Barnes's Job 17:6 Bible Commentary
He hath also - That is, God has done this.
Also a by-word - A proverb (משׁל mâshâl); 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, פנים pânı̂ym. 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 (γέλως gelōs) to them." The Chaldee renders it, "Thou hast placed me for a proverb to the people, and I shall be Gehenna (גיהנם gayhı̂nnôm) to them." The Hebrew word תפת tôpheth - 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 Matthew 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 tabor or small drum; though the word תף toph is thus used; see the notes at Isaiah 5:12. The word used here is derived, probably, from the obsolete verb תיף typ - "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.