Job 17

General context

Job continues the reply begun in chapter 16. He says his breath is corrupt, his days extinct, and the graves ready for him; mockers are with him and his eye rests on their provocation. He asks God to lay down a pledge and put him in a surety, since no one else will strike hands with him, and says God has hidden the friends' heart from understanding and will not exalt them; he who speaks flattery to his friends will see his children's eyes fail. God has made him a byword of the people, where before he was as a tabret; his eye is dim with sorrow and his members are as a shadow. He says upright men will be astonished at this and the innocent will stir against the hypocrite, yet the righteous will hold his way and the clean-handed grow stronger and stronger. He tells the friends to return and come, since he cannot find one wise man among them. His days are past and his purposes broken off; they change the night into day and light is short because of darkness. If he waits, the grave is his house and his bed is made in darkness; he has called corruption his father and the worm his mother and sister. He asks where his hope is and who will see it, and says it will go down to the bars of the pit when they rest together in the dust.

Cited passages: Job 17:1, Job 17:2, Job 17:3, Job 17:4, Job 17:5, Job 17:6, Job 17:7, Job 17:8, Job 17:9, Job 17:10, Job 17:11, Job 17:12, Job 17:13, Job 17:14, Job 17:15, Job 17:16

Job 17 (KJV)

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Historical context

No narrator's line; the chapter completes the answer that began at 16.1, and Bildad replies at 18.1. The addressee shifts again: verses 3 and 4 speak to a thou, asking to be put in a surety with thee and saying thou hast hid their heart from understanding; God is not named in those verses, though the request for a surety and the power over hearts point to God; verse 10 turns to the friends, as for you all. The mockers of verse 2 are not named, but verse 10, I cannot find one wise man among you, points to the friends. As a tabret is the wording as printed, and the text does not explain the comparison further. Verses 8 and 9, on upright men being astonished and the righteous holding his way, are Job's statement of how the innocent will react, not the narrator's forecast. The kinship language of verse 14, corruption as father and the worm as mother and sister, is Job's figure for the grave, and he asks where is now my hope without answering. Nothing in the chapter states that Job is dying; he says the graves are ready and his days extinct, which is his own assessment.

Cited passages: Job 16:1, Job 18:1, Job 17:3, Job 17:4, Job 17:10, Job 17:2, Job 17:6, Job 17:8, Job 17:9, Job 17:14, Job 17:15, Job 17:1

Literary context

The chapter is short and moves in fragments: breath, days, graves in the first line, then mockers, then a plea to God for a surety that no one else will offer. The request put me in a surety with thee continues the search for an advocate from 9.33 and 16.21, but now asks God himself to stand for Job. The contrast aforetime I was as a tabret against a byword of the people compresses Job's fall into one line. Verses 8 and 9 are an odd calm in the middle, a claim that the righteous will be strengthened by seeing this, before Job dismisses the friends again. The closing verses answer Eliphaz's promise of a full-aged death in 5.26 and Bildad's promise of laughter in 8.21 with a house that is the grave, a bed in darkness, and a family of corruption and worms. The last word is dust, which the friends sprinkled on their heads in 2.12. Bildad's reply in 18.2 begins by asking when the words will end.

Cited passages: Job 17:1, Job 17:2, Job 17:3, Job 9:33, Job 16:21, Job 17:6, Job 17:8, Job 17:9, Job 17:10, Job 5:26, Job 8:21, Job 17:13, Job 17:14, Job 17:16, Job 2:12, Job 18:2

Key moments

1. Graves are ready (Job 17:1). Job says his breath is corrupt and the graves are ready for him.
2. Be my surety (Job 17:3). Job asks God to put him in a surety, since no one will strike hands with him.
3. A byword of the people (Job 17:6). Job says God has made him a byword where he was once as a tabret.
4. The righteous hold their way (Job 17:9). Job says the righteous will hold on and the clean-handed grow stronger.
5. Not one wise man (Job 17:10). Job tells the friends he cannot find a wise man among them.
6. The grave is my house (Job 17:13). Job says if he waits the grave is his house and darkness his bed.
7. Where is my hope? (Job 17:15). Job asks where his hope is and who will see it.

For reflection

Job asks God to be his surety while saying God has hidden his friends' hearts from understanding. What does it mean to ask for help from the one you hold responsible, and does the chapter show that as despair or as a kind of trust?