17:10Job’s three friends had a reputation for being wise, but Job could not find wisdom in any of them. God backed up Job's claim in 42:7, when he condemned these men for their false portrayal of him. Obviously these men had a faulty view of wisdom. They assumed that because they were prosperous and successful, God must be pleased with the way they were living and thinking. Job, however, told his friends that they were starting with the wrong idea because earthly success and prosperity are not a reward for faith in God. Likewise, trouble and affliction do not prove faithlessness. The truly wise man knows that wisdom comes from God atone, not fram human successes or failures. And the truly wise man never forsakes God. God’s wisdom proved superior to Job and to all his friends.
Life Application Study BibleJobChapter 17
Job 17
New Living Translation · Life Application Study Bible · Original page: 808
A few verse numbers on this page were hard to read in the scan and are marked with a dotted underline — compare with the original page image if in doubt.
1I watch how bitterly they taunt me.
3“You must defend my innocence, O God,since no one else will stand up for me.
4You have closed their minds to understanding,but do not let them triumph.
5They betray their friends for their own advantage,so let their children faint with hunger.
6“God has made a mockery of me among the people;they spit in my face.
7My eyes are swollen with weeping,and I am but a shadow of my former self.
8The virtuous are horrified when they see me.The innocent rise up against the ungodly.
9The righteous keep moving forward,and those with clean hands become stronger and stronger.
10“As for all of you, come back with a better argument,though I still won't find a wise man among you.
11My days are over.My hopes have disappeared.My heart’s desires are broken.
12These men say that night is day;they claim that the darkness is light.
13What if I go to the grave*and make my bed in darkness?
14What if I call the grave my father,and the maggot my mother or my sister?
15Where then is my hope?Can anyone find it?
16No, my hope will go down with me to the grave.We will rest together in the dust!”
Textual footnotes
- 17:13 Hebrew to Sheol; also in 17:16.
Life Application Notes 2 notes
17:15Job was giving up hape of any future restoration of wealth and family and wrapping himself in thoyghts of death and the rest from grief and pain it promised. The rewards that Job’s friends described were all related to this present life. They were silent about the possibility of life after death. We must not evaluate life only in terms of this present world, because God promises a never-ending, wonderful future to those who are faithful to him.