Job 17:5

5 If a man denounces his friends for a price, the eyes of his children will fail.

Job 17:5 Meaning and Commentary

Job 17:5

He that speaketh flattery to [his] friends
As Job's friends did to him when they promised great outward prosperity, and a restoration to his former state, and to a greater affluence upon his repentance and reformation; or when they spoke deceitfully for God, pretending great regard to the honour of his justice and holiness, and therefore insisted on it that he must be a wicked man and an hypocrite, that was afflicted by him, as Job was:

even the eyes of his children shall fail;
so hateful are some sins to God, and particularly deceitful tongues, and flattering lips, that he will punish them in their posterity; the eyes of their children shall fail for want of sustenance, and while they are looking in vain for salvation and deliverance out of trouble, see ( Exodus 20:4 ) .

Job 17:5 In-Context

3 Give me, I pray, the pledge You demand. Who else will be my guarantor?

4 You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore You will not exalt them.

5 If a man denounces his friends for a price, the eyes of his children will fail.

6 He has made me a byword among the people, a man in whose face they spit.

7 My eyes have grown dim with grief, and my whole body is but a shadow.