171 My spirit is broken, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me. 2 Surely there are mockers about me, and my eye dwells on their provocation. 3 "Lay down a pledge for me with thyself; who is there that will give surety for me? 4 Since thou hast closed their minds to understanding, therefore thou wilt not let them triumph. 5 He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property, the eyes of his children will fail. 6 "He has made me a byword of the peoples, and I am one before whom men spit. 7 My eye has grown dim from grief, and all my members are like a shadow. 8 Upright men are appalled at this, and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless. 9 Yet the righteous holds to his way, and he that has clean hands grows stronger and stronger.
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.