Job 17 Explained

Job 17 is the seventeenth chapter of the Book of Job in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.[1] The book is anonymous; most scholars believe it was written around 6th century BCE. This chapter records the speech of Job, which belongs to the Dialogue section of the book, comprising –31:40.

Text

The original text is written in Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 16 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes the Aleppo Codex (10th century), and Codex Leningradensis (1008).

There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BC; some extant ancient manuscripts of this version include Codex Vaticanus (B;

ak{G}

B; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (S; BHK:

ak{G}

S; 4th century), and Codex Alexandrinus (A;

ak{G}

A; 5th century).

Analysis

The structure of the book is as follows:

Within the structure, chapter 17 is grouped into the Dialogue section with the following outline:

The Dialogue section is composed in the format of poetry with distinctive syntax and grammar.

Chapter 17 lacks a clear structure with some verses a continuation from the previous chapter and the complaints addressed alternately to God and Job's friends:

Job complains for the lack of hope (17:1–10)

The section opens with the anguish of the previous chapter, both in Job's expectation of death (verse 1; cf. Job 16:22) and by the useless, mocking words of his friends (verse 2; cf. Job 16:20). Thereafter, Job addresses God directly, asking why God has closed the minds of his friends to understanding Job's plight (verse 4). Then, Job turns to his friends (or onlookers; "among you" or "all of you", verse 10) and conveying his dismay that God, who runs the world, belittles him in the presence of ("spit in the face" or "spit in front of") others (verse 6), before closing with charging his friends for lacking wisdom in their responses (verse 10).

Verse 6

[Job said:] "And He has made me a byword of the people,

someone in whose face they spit."[2]

Job expresses his despair (17:11–16)

In this section Job sinks back to his current despair, as if his life were over ("my days are past") and there is no future for his "plans" or "desires" (verse 11). Job imagines that he would go "over to the dark side" (the darkness of Sheol) to make his "house" (or "bed"; verse 13), where he seems to belong. Job diligently searches for a way forward in the present darkness, but concedes that this does not seem to be feasible (verse 16).

Verse 16

[Job said:] "Will they go down to the gates of Sheol?

Shall we have rest together in the dust?"[5]

Job realizes that death cannot return his children to him, cannot restore to him a sense of family (cf. Job 3:17–19; 7:9; Psalm 6:5).

See also

Sources

. Michael D. Coogan . The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books: New Revised Standard Version, Issue 48 . Coogan . Michael David . Marc Zvi . Brettler . Carol Ann . Newsom . Pheme . Perkins . Augmented 3rd . Oxford University Press . 2007 . 9780195288810 .

. Henry Hampton Halley. Halley's Bible Handbook: an abbreviated Bible commentary . 24th (revised). Zondervan Publishing House . 1965 . 0-310-25720-4.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Holman Illustrated Bible Handbook. Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. 2012.
  2. 2 Job MEV
  3. Note [b] on Job 17:6 in NET Bible
  4. Note [c] on 17:6 in NET Bible
  5. 2 Job NKJV
  6. Note [b] on Job 17:16 in NET Bible
  7. Note [c] on Job 17:16 in NET Bible
  8. Note on Job 17:16 in NKJV
  9. Note [d] on Job 17:16 in NET Bible
  10. Note [e] on Job 17:16 in NET Bible

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Job 17".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2025, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.