Job 17:6

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אִיּוֹב 17:6

וְֽ֭הִצִּגַנִי לִמְשֹׁ֣ל עַמִּ֑ים וְתֹ֖פֶת לְפָנִ֣ים אֶֽהְיֶֽה׃

(Masoretic Text, Bomberg Edition, 1525)

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

(King James Version, Pure Cambridge Edition)

Commentary

A Tabret or to Spit?

Mark Ward has made a video titled “An Error in the King James Version” in which he makes the claim that the Job 17:6 reading of “a tabret” in the KJV is an error and the true reading should be is “to spit”.

Adam Clarke

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.

The Re-Translation or Revision of the Bible

In the article, The Re-Translation or Revision of the Bible C. E. Stuart, Bible Treasury, 2nd Edition, Volume 1, June 1856, it states:

Job 17:6, "And aforetime I was as a tabret". In the previous clause Job speaks of himself its a by-word. It is best to take this clause as describing something similar. The meaning then would be, "I am one whose face is spit upon," i.e., an object of abomination before them. The word occurs elsewhere only as a proper name. Here the versions vary in their translations, the LXX. expressing it by gelos, the Vulgate by exemplum.

Albert Barnes

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.

Bullinger

Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes has:

aforetime. in former times. Compare Ruth 4:7,

tabret. a drum. Hebrew. topheth. To the sound and warning of which people gave heed. See note on 1 Samuel 10:5. After this verse imagine. pause.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges has:

This verse reads,

I am made also a byeword or the peoples,

And am become one to be spit on in the face.

The words, I am mademight mean, as A.V., He hath made me, the reference being to God. Undoubtedly Job turns away here from men and refers to a broader evil, the inexplicable course of the world in God's hand. But probably the allusion to God is made in this indirect way. By the "peoples" Job means mankind in its various tribes, for his calamity and the wickedness that was inferred from it would be widely known. Comp. what is said by Job of his treatment by the debased races of men about him, ch. Job 30:9 seq.; and see a similar statement in Bildad's reply, ch. Job 18:20.

aforetime I was as a tabret Rather as above; lit. I am (must be) a spitting-in-the-face. A tabretis a timbrel or tambourine (comp. tabering, i. e. beating, upon their breasts, Nahum 2:7); the Heb. word topheth (spitting) has been wrongly assumed by the A.V. to be of the same meaning as toph (timbrel).

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible has:

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

He - God. The poet reverentially suppresses the name of God when speaking of calamities inflicted.

Byword - (Deuteronomy 28:37; Psalms 69:11). My awful punishment makes my name execrated everywhere, as if I must have been superlatively had to have earned it.

Aforetime ... tabret - as David was honoured (1 Samuel 18:6) [from top (H8596), a drum]. Rather, from a different Hebrew root х topet (H8611), from tuwp], the sound expressing the act of spitting-`I am treated to my face as an object of disgust.' Literally, an object to be spit upon in the face (Numbers 12:14). So Raca, from a root to spit means (Matthew 5:22). (Umbreit).

Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible has:

He hath made me] Render, 'I am made.' And aforetime, etc.] RV 'And I am become an open abhorring.'

Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible has:

He (i.e., God) hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret. — Or, I am become as a tabret, or drum openly, i.e., a signal of warning. “My case will be fraught with warning for others.” But some render it, “I am become an open abhorrence, or one in whose face they spit.” The general meaning is perfectly clear, though the way it may be expressed varies.

Geneva

Geneva Study Bible has:

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

(g) God has made all the world speak of me, because of my afflictions.

John Gill

John Gill has:

He hath made me also a byword of the people,.... Either Eliphaz, or God; for whatsoever befell him, whether more immediately by the hand of God, or by any instrument, the ascribes it to him, as being suffered in Providence to befall him; as when he became a byword or proverb to the people in common, to whom an example might be set by one or more of Job's friends. The name of Job is to this day a byword or proverb among men, both for his poverty and his patience; if a man is described as very poor, he is said to be as poor as Job; or if very patient under his afflictions, he is said to be as patient as Job; but as neither of these are to the disgrace of Job, something else seems rather intended here, even something to his reproach; as when a man was represented as a very wicked man, or an hypocrite, it used to be said, such an one is as wicked a creature, and as arrant an hypocrite, as Job:

and aforetime I was as a tabret; the delight of the people, who, when he appeared in the public streets, came out and went before him, singing, and dancing, and beating on tabrets, and such like musical instruments, to express their joy upon the sight of him; but now it was otherwise with him, and he whom they could not sufficiently extol and commend, now knew not well what to say bad enough of him; such a change in the sentiments and conduct of men must needs be very chagrining: or "aforetime I was as a lord", as Ben Gersom, from the use of the word in Daniel 3:2; as he supposes; he was like a lord or nobleman, or as one in some high office, and now as the offscouring of all things; or it denotes what he was "before them", the people, in their sight at present, and should be: the word used is "Tophet", which Aben Ezra takes to be the name of a place, and as it seems of that place where children were offered to Moloch, and which place was in being, and such practices used by the Canaanites in the times of Job; and this place, which was also called the valley of Hinnom, being afterwards used for hell, led the Targum to paraphrase the words thus, "and hell from within shall I be"; and so Sephorno, in appearance hell to all that see me; and in general it may signify that he was, or should be, avoided, as any unclean place, very ungrateful and disagreeable, as that place was; or as anything abominable, and to be loathed and rejected, and this way go several interpreters s; though some think respect is had to the punishment of tympanization, in which sufferers were beaten upon in several parts of their bodies, as if men were beating upon a tabret or drum, which gave great pain and torment, see Hebrews 11:35; and with such like cruelty and indignity Job suggests he was or should be used; and therefore begs for a surety, for one to interpose and plead on his behalf; let the carriage of men to him be what it will, that is here referred to; compare with this Psalms 69:11.

Benson Commentary

Benson Commentary has:

Job 17:6. He — That is, God, who is generally designed by this pronoun in this book; hath made me also a by-word of the people — Or, a proverb, or subject of common talk. My miseries are so great and unprecedented that they fill all people with discourse, and are become proverbial to express extreme misery. And, or rather, but, or although, aforetime I was as a tabret — That is, I was the people’s delight and darling, the matter of their praise, and received by them with applauses, and, as it were, with instruments of music. Thus he aggravates his present misery by the mention of his former prosperity.

Keil and Delitzsch OT Commentary

Keil and Delitzsch OT Commentary has:

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

6 And He hath made me a proverb to the world,

And I became as one in whose face they spit.

7 Then mine eye became dim with grief,

And all my members were like a shadow.

8 The upright were astonished at it,

And the innocent is stirred up over the godless;

9 Nevertheless the righteous holdeth fast on his way,

And he that hath clean hands waxeth stronger and stronger.

Without a question, the subj. of Job 17:6 is God. It is the same thing whether משׁל is taken as inf. followed by the subject in the nominative (Ges. 133, 2), or as a subst. (lxx θρύλλημα; Aq., Symm., Theod., παραβολήν), like שׂחוק, Job 12:4, followed by the gen. subjectivus. משׁל is the usual word for ridicule, expressed in parables of a satirical character, e.g., Joel 2:17 (according to which, if משׁל were intended as inf., משׁל־בּי עמּים might have been expected); עמּים signifies both nations and races, and tribes or people, i.e., members of this and that nation, or in gen. of mankind (Job 12:2). We have intentionally chosen an ambiguous expression in the translation, for what Job says can be meant of a wide range of people (comp. on Job 2:11 ad fin.), as well as of those in the immediate neighbourhood; the friends themselves represent different tribes; and a perishable gipsy-like troglodyte race, to whom Job is become a derision, is specially described further on (Job 24, 30).

Job 17:6

By תּפת (translated by Jer. exemplum, and consequently mistaken for מופת) the older expositors are reminded of the name of the place where the sacrifices were offered to Moloch in the valley of the sons of Hinnom (whence גּיהנּם, γέεννα, hell), since they explain it by "the fire of hell," but only from want of a right perception; the לפנים standing with it, which nowhere signifies palam, and cannot here (where אהיה, although in the signification ἐγενόμην, follows) signify a multo tempore, shows that תפת here is to be derived from תּוּף, to spit out (as נפת, gum, from נוּף). This verb certainly cannot be supported in Hebr. and Aram. (since רקק is the commoner word), except two passages in the Talmud (Nidda 42a, comp. Sabbath 99b, and Chethuboth 61b); but it is confirmed by the Aethiopic and Coptic and an onomatopoetic origin, as the words πτύειν, ψύειν, spuere, Germ. speien, etc., show.

(Note: תוף is related to the Sanskrit root shttı̂v, as τέγη, τρύχους, τρύζω, and the like, to στέγη, στρύχνος, στρύζω,, vid., Kuhn's Zeitschrift, Bd. iv. Abh. i.((the falling away of s before mutes).)

Cognate is the Arabic taffafa, to treat with contempt, and the interjection tuffan, fie upon thee,

(Note: Almost all modern expositors repeat the remark here, that this tuffan is similar in meaning to ῥακά, Matthew 5:22, while they might learn from Lightfoot that it has nothing to do with רק, to spit, but is equivalent to ריקא, κενέ.)

e.g., in the proverb (quoted by Umbreit): ‛aini fihi watuffan ‛aleihi, my eye rests on it wishfully, and yet I feel disgust at it. Therefore לפנים (spitting upon the face) is equivalent to בפנים, Numbers 12:14; Deuteronomy 25:9 (to spit in the face). In consequence of this deep debasement of the object of scorn and spitting, the brightness and vision of his eye (sense of sight) are become dim (comp. Psalm 6:8; Psalm 31:10) מכּעשׂ (always written with שׂ, not ס, in the book of Job), from grief, and his frames, i.e., bodily frame equals members (Jer. membra, Targ. incorrectly: features), are become like a shadow all of them, as fleshless and powerless as a shadow, which is only appearance without substance. His suffering, his miserable form (זאת), is of such a kind that the upright are astonished (שׁמם, to become desolate, silent), and the guiltless (like himself and other innocent sufferers) become excited (here with vexation as in Psalm 37:1, as in Job 31:29 with joy) over the godless (who is none the less prosperous); but the righteous holds firm (without allowing himself to be disconcerted by this anomalous condition of things, though impenetrably mysterious) on his way (the way of good to which he has pledged himself), and the pure of hands (וּטהר־ as Proverbs 22:11, according to another mode of writing וּטהר־ with Chateph-Kametz under the ט and Gaja under the ו; comp. Isaiah 54:9, where the form of writing וּמגּער־ umiggoor is well authorized) increases (יוסיף, of inward increase, as Ecclesiastes 1:18) in strength (אמץ only here in the book of Job); i.e., far from allowing suffering to draw him from God to the side of the godless, he gathers strength thereby only still more perseveringly to pursue righteousness of life and purity of conduct, since suffering, especially in connection with such experiences as Job now has with the three friends, drives him to God and makes his communion with Him closer and firmer. These words of Job (if we may be allowed the figure) are like a rocket which shoots above the tragic darkness of the book, lighting it up suddenly, although only for a short time. The confession which breaks through in lyric form in Psalm 73 here finds expression of a more brief, sententious kind. The point of Eliphaz' reproach (Job 15:4), that Job makes void the fear of God, and depreciates communion with God, is destroyed by this confession, and the assurance of Satan (Job 2:5) is confronted by a fact of experience, which, if it should also become manifest in the case of Job, puts to shame and makes void the hope of the evil spirit.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

6. He—God. The poet reverentially suppresses the name of God when speaking of calamities inflicted.

by-word—(De 28:37; Ps 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].

NET Bible

tn The verb is the third person, and so God is likely the subject. The LXX has “you have made me.” So most commentators clarify the verb in some such way. However, without an expressed subject it can also be taken as a passive.

tn The word “byword” is related to the word translated “proverb” in the Bible (מָשָׁל, mashal). Job’s case is so well known that he is synonymous with afflictions and with abuse by people.

tn The word תֹפֶת (tofet) is a hapax legomenon. The expression is “and a spitting in/to the face I have become,” i.e., “I have become one in whose face people spit.” Various suggestions have been made, including a link to Tophet, but they are weak. The verse as it exists in the MT is fine, and fits the context well.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Easton's Bible Dictionary has:

Tophet - =Topheth, from Heb. toph "a drum," because the cries of children here sacrificed by the priests of Moloch were drowned by the noise of such an instrument; or from taph or toph, meaning "to burn," and hence a place of burning, the name of a particular part in the valley of Hinnom. "Fire being the most destructive of all elements, is chosen by the sacred writers to symbolize the agency by which God punishes or destroys the wicked. We are not to assume from prophetical figures that material fire is the precise agent to be used. It was not the agency employed in the destruction of Sennacherib, mentioned in Isa. 30:33...Tophet properly begins where the Vale of Hinnom bends round to the east, having the cliffs of Zion on the north, and the Hill of Evil Counsel on the south. It terminates at Beer 'Ayub, where it joins the Valley of Jehoshaphat. The cliffs on the southern side especially abound in ancient tombs. Here the dead carcasses of beasts and every offal and abomination were cast, and left to be either devoured by that worm that never died or consumed by that fire that was never quenched." Thus Tophet came to represent the place of punishment. (See HINNOM.)

Modern Versions

New International Version

“God has made me a byword to everyone, a man in whose face people spit.

New Living Translation

“God has made a mockery of me among the people; they spit in my face.

English Standard Version

“He has made me a byword of the peoples, and I am one before whom men spit.

Berean Standard Bible

He has made me a byword among the people, a man in whose face they spit.

King James Bible

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

New King James Version

“But He has made me a byword of the people, And I have become one in whose face men spit.

New American Standard Bible

“But He has made me a proverb among the people, And I am one at whom people spit.

NASB 1995

“But He has made me a byword of the people, And I am one at whom men spit.

NASB 1977

“But He has made me a byword of the people, And I am one at whom men spit.

Amplified Bible

“But He has made me a byword and mockery among the people, And I have become one in whose face people spit.

Christian Standard Bible

He has made me an object of scorn to the people; I have become a man people spit at.

Holman Christian Standard Bible

He has made me an object of scorn to the people; I have become a man people spit at.

American Standard Version

But he hath made me a byword of the people; And they spit in my face.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English

He raised up the Ruler of the nations, and he created a veil over their faces

Brenton Septuagint Translation

But thou has made me a byword amount the nations, and I am become a scorn to them.

Contemporary English Version

You, God, are the reason I am insulted and spit on.

Douay-Rheims Bible

He hath made me as it were a byword of the people, and I am an example before them.

Good News Translation

And now people use this proverb against me; they come and spit in my face.

International Standard Version

"He has made me a byword among people; I'm being spit on in the face.

JPS Tanakh 1917

He hath made me also a byword of the people; And I am become one in whose face they spit.

Literal Standard Version

And He set me up for a proverb of the peoples, And I am a wonder before them.

New American Bible

I am made a byword of the people; I am one at whom people spit.

NET Bible

He has made me a byword to people, I am the one in whose face they spit.

New Revised Standard Version

“He has made me a byword of the peoples, and I am one before whom people spit.

New Heart English Bible

"But he has made me a byword of the people. They spit in my face.

World English Bible

"But he has made me a byword of the people. They spit in my face.

Young's Literal Translation

And he set me up for a proverb of the peoples, And a wonder before them I am.

English Translations

1382 He hath set as in to a prouerbe of the comyn puple, and his saumple bifor hem. (Wyclif's Bible by John Wycliffe)
1534 (Tyndale Bible by William Tyndale)
1535 He hath made me as it were a byworde of the comon people, I am his gestinge stocke amoge the. (Coverdale Bible)
1537 He hath made me as it were a byworde of the comon people. I am hys gestynge stocke amonge them.
1539 He hath made me as it were a byworde of the people: where as afore, I was theyr ioye. (Great Bible First Edition - Miles Coverdale)
1540 (Great Bible Second Edition - Miles Coverdale)
1549 (Matthew's Bible - John Rogers)
1557 (Geneva 1557) by William Whittingham
1560 Hee hath also made mee a byword of the people, and I am as a Tabret before them.
1568 He hath made me a byworde of the people, where as afore I was their ioy (Bishop's Bible First Edition)
1599 Hee hath also made mee a byword of the people, and I am as a Tabret before them. (Geneva Bible) by William Whittingham

Job 17:6 in the 1611 King James Version

1611 He hath made me also a by-word of the people, and afore time I was as a tabret. (King James Version)
1769 He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret. (King James Version - Benjamin Blayney)

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