Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, July 20th, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Read the Bible

Easy-to-Read Version

Job 17:2

People stand around me and laugh at me. I watch them as they tease and insult me.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Persecution;  

Dictionaries:

- Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Greatness of God;   Hypocrisy;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Eye;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Mock;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Surely mockers surround me,and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.
Hebrew Names Version
Surely there are mockers with me, My eye dwells on their provocation.
King James Version
Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation?
English Standard Version
Surely there are mockers about me, and my eye dwells on their provocation.
New Century Version
Those who laugh at me surround me; I watch them insult me.
New English Translation
Surely mockery is with me; my eyes must dwell on their hostility.
Amplified Bible
"Surely there are mockers and mockery with me, And my eye gazes on their obstinacy and provocation.
New American Standard Bible
"Mockers are certainly with me, And my eye gazes on their provocation.
World English Bible
Surely there are mockers with me, My eye dwells on their provocation.
Geneva Bible (1587)
There are none but mockers with mee, & mine eye continueth in their bitternesse.
Legacy Standard Bible
Surely mockers are with me,And my eye gazes on their provocation.
Berean Standard Bible
Surely mockers surround me and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.
Contemporary English Version
All I can see are angry crowds, making fun of me.
Complete Jewish Bible
Mockers are all around me; my eye meets only their hostility.
Darby Translation
Are there not mockers around me? and doth [not] mine eye abide in their provocation?
George Lamsa Translation
For there is no falsehood in me, and yet my spirit dwells in their bitterness.
Good News Translation
I watch how bitterly everyone mocks me.
Lexham English Bible
Surely mockery is with me, and my eye rests on their provocation.
Literal Translation
Are not mockers with me? And my eye rests on their insults.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
I haue disceaued no man, yet must myne eye cotinue in heuynesse
American Standard Version
Surely there are mockers with me, And mine eye dwelleth upon their provocation.
Bible in Basic English
Truly, those who make sport of me are round about me, and my eyes become dark because of their bitter laughing.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Surely there are mockers with me, and mine eye abideth in their provocation.
King James Version (1611)
Are there not mockers with mee? and doeth not mine eye continue in their prouocation?
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Froward men are with me, and myne eye must continue in the bitternesse of them.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Weary I intreat; and what have I done? and strangers have stolen my goods.
English Revised Version
Surely there are mockers with me, and mine eye abideth in their provocation.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Y have not synned, and myn iye dwellith in bittirnessis.
Update Bible Version
Surely there are mockers with me, And my eye dwells on their provocation.
Webster's Bible Translation
[Are there] not mockers with me? and doth not my eye continue in their provocation?
New King James Version
Are not mockers with me? And does not my eye dwell on their provocation?
New Living Translation
I am surrounded by mockers. I watch how bitterly they taunt me.
New Life Bible
For sure those with me make fun of me. My eyes see how they laugh at me.
New Revised Standard
Surely there are mockers around me, and my eye dwells on their provocation.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Verily there are mockers, with me! And, on their insults, mine eye doth rest.
Douay-Rheims Bible
I have not sinned, and my eye abideth in bitterness.
Revised Standard Version
Surely there are mockers about me, and my eye dwells on their provocation.
Young's Literal Translation
If not -- mockeries [are] with me. And in their provocations mine eye lodgeth.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Surely mockers are with me, And my eye gazes on their provocation.

Contextual Overview

1 My spirit is broken; I am ready to give up. My life is almost gone; the grave is waiting for me. 2 People stand around me and laugh at me. I watch them as they tease and insult me. 3 "God, give me some support. No one else will! 4 You have closed my friends' minds, and they don't understand. Please don't let them win. 5 You know what people say: ‘A man neglects his own children to help his friends.' But my friends have turned against me. 6 God has made my name a bad word to everyone. People spit in my face. 7 My eyes are almost blind from my grief. My whole body is as thin as a shadow. 8 Good people wonder how this could happen. The innocent are upset with anyone who is against God. 9 But those who do right will continue to do what is right. Those who are not guilty grow stronger and stronger.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

mockers: Job 12:4, Job 13:9, Job 16:20, Job 21:3, Psalms 35:14-16, Matthew 27:39-44

continue: Heb. lodge, Psalms 25:13, Psalms 91:1, *marg.

provocation: 1 Samuel 1:6, 1 Samuel 1:7

Reciprocal: Job 11:3 - mockest Job 15:12 - thy eyes Job 27:12 - altogether Luke 8:53 - laughed

Cross-References

Genesis 9:9
"I now make my promise to you and to your people who will live after you.
Genesis 12:2
I will build a great nation from you. I will bless you and make your name famous. People will use your name to bless other people.
Genesis 13:16
I will make your people so many that they will be like the dust of the earth. If people could count all the particles of dust on earth, they could count your people.
Genesis 15:18
So on that day the Lord made a promise and an agreement with Abram. He said, "I will give this land to your descendants. I will give them the land between the River of Egypt and the great river Euphrates.
Genesis 17:4
"This is my part of our agreement: I will make you the father of many nations.
Genesis 17:6
I will give you many descendants. New nations and kings will come from you.
Genesis 17:8
And I will give this land to you and to all your descendants. I will give you the land you are traveling through—the land of Canaan. I will give you this land forever, and I will be your God."
Genesis 17:11
You will cut the skin to show that you follow the agreement between me and you.
Genesis 17:17
Abraham bowed his face to the ground to show he respected God. But he laughed and said to himself, "I am 100 years old. I cannot have a son, and Sarah is 90 years old. She cannot have a child."
Genesis 17:18
Then Abraham said to God, "I hope Ishmael will live and serve you."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

[Are there] not mockers with me?.... Meaning not irreligious persons, such as make a mock at sin, a jest of religion, a laugh at good men, sneer at the doctrines and ordinances of God, and scoff at things future, as the coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and a future judgment; with whom it is very uncomfortable to be, as well as with any sort of profane men, and such there were no doubt in Job's time; but he seems to design his friends, by whom be thought himself mocked, and who were, as he imagined, scorners of him,

Job 12:4; and therefore for this reason entreats his case might be heard, and his cause pleaded:

and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation? or "lodge all night" q; his sense is, that they were continually provoking him with their words, their scoffs and jeers, their censures and calumnies, and the weak reasons and arguments they made use of to support their charges and suspicions; these dwelt upon his mind not only in the daytime but in the night, so that he could not get a wink of sleep for them; their words were so teasing and distressing, and they acted such a cruel part to him, and stuck so close to him, and hung upon his thoughts, that he could not get clear of them in the night season; but his mind ran upon them, which kept him waking, that he could not close his eyelids for thinking of them.

q תלן "pernoctat", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius, Schmidt, Michaelis, Schultens.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And doth not mine eye continue in their provocation? - Margin “lodge.” This is the meaning of the Hebrew word used here - נלן tālan. It properly denotes to pass the night or to lodge in a place, as distinguished from a permanent residence. The idea here seems to be, that his eye “rested” on their provocations. It remained fixed on them. It was not a mere glance, a passing notice, but was such a view as resulted from a careful observation. It was not such a view as a traveler would obtain by passing hastily by, but it was such as one would obtain who had encamped for a time, and had an opportunity of looking around him with care, and seeing things as they were. Thus explained, there is much poetic beauty in the passage. The Vulgate, however, renders it, “I have not sinned, and mine eye remains in bitterness.” The Septuagint, “I supplicate in distress - κάμνων kamnōn - yet what have I done? Strangers came, and stole my substance: who is the man?” The simple meaning is, that Job had a calm view of their wickedness, and that he could not be deceived.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 17:2. Are there not mockers with me? — This has been variously translated. The VULGATE: "I have not sinned, and yet my eye dwells upon afflictions." SEPTUAGINT: "I conjure you, labouring under afflictions, what evil have I done? Yet strangers have robbed me of my substance." Mr. GOOD: "But are not revilers before me? Alas, mine eye penetrateth their rebukes." CALMET thinks the Hebrew might be translated thus: "If I have not been united in friendship with the wicked, why are my eyes in bitterness?" COVERDALE translates both verses thus: My breth fayleth, my dayes are shortened, I am harde at deathes dore. I have disceaved no man, yet must myne eye continue in hevynesse. Mr. HEATH "Were it not so, I have sarcasms enow in store; and I could spend the whole night unmoved at their aggravations." The general meaning is sufficiently plain, and the reader has got translations enough.


 
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