Job 30:9

9 "And now they mock me in song; I am a byword to them.

Job 30:9 Meaning and Commentary

Job 30:9

And now am I their song
The subject of their song, of whom they sung ballads about the streets, in public places, and at their festivals and merriments, as Christ the antitype of Job was the song of the drunkard, ( Psalms 69:12 ) ; see ( Lamentations 3:14 ) ; or the meaning may be, they rejoiced in his afflictions and calamities, and made themselves merry with them, which was cruel and inhuman, as David's enemies did in his, and those abject, mean, base people, like those that derided Job: and so the Edomites rejoiced over the children of Judah, in the day of their destruction, and as the inhabitants of Popish countries will rejoice over the witnesses when slain, and make merry, ( Psalms 35:15 Psalms 35:16 ) ( Obadiah 1:12 ) ( Revelation 11:9 Revelation 11:10 ) ;

yea, I am their byword:
all their talk was about him continually, and at every turn would use his name proverbially for an hypocrite, or a wicked man; and thus Christ, of whom Job was a type, became a proverb in the mouth of the Jews, ( Psalms 69:11 ) ; and as the Jews themselves now are with others, ( Jeremiah 24:9 ) .

Job 30:9 In-Context

7 Among the bushes they bray; under the nettles they huddle together.
8 A senseless, disreputable brood, they have been whipped out of the land.
9 "And now they mock me in song; I am a byword to them.
10 They abhor me, they keep aloof from me; they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.
11 Because God has loosed my bowstring and humbled me, they have cast off restraint in my presence.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.