I am a laughingstock to my friends, though I called on God, and He answered. The righteous and upright man is a laughingstock.
Parallel translations
- WEB I am like one who is a joke to his neighbor, I, who called on God, and he answered. The just, the blameless man is a joke.
- KJV I am as one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God, and he answereth him: the just upright man is laughed to scorn.
- NKJV “Iam one mocked by his friends, Who called on God, and He answered him, The just and blameless who is ridiculed.
- NASB “I am a joke to my friends, The one who called on God and He answered him; The just and blameless man is a joke.
- NLT Yet my friends laugh at me, for I call on God and expect an answer. I am a just and blameless man, yet they laugh at me.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Job laments becoming a laughingstock to his neighbors, though he called on God and was answered. He feels mocked despite his righteousness.
Overview
Job grieves that he, a righteous man who prayed and was heard, is now ridiculed in his affliction. His complaint that the blameless are scorned anticipates the experience of the righteous Sufferer to come. Christ, the truly blameless one, was likewise mocked while He called on the Father, sanctifying the trial of the unjustly derided (Psalm 22:7-8; Matthew 27:39-43).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Job 30:1“But now they mock me, men younger than I am, whose fathers I would have refused to entrust with my sheep dogs.
- Ps 91:15When he calls out to Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him.
- Job 17:6He has made me a byword among the people, a man in whose face they spit.
- Job 21:3Bear with me while I speak; then, after I have spoken, you may go on mocking.
- Job 17:2Surely mockers surround me, and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.
- Ps 22:7–8All who see me mock me; they sneer and shake their heads:
- Job 16:10They open their mouths against me and strike my cheeks with contempt; they join together against me.
- Jer 33:3Call to Me, and I will answer and show you great and unsearchable things you do not know.
- Acts 17:32When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock him, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this topic.”
- Mic 7:7But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.
- Prov 14:2He who walks in uprightness fears the LORD, but the one who is devious in his ways despises Him.
- Heb 11:36Still others endured mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.
- Ps 35:16Like godless jesters at a feast, they gnashed their teeth at me.
- Job 16:20My friends are my scoffers as my eyes pour out tears to God.
- Mark 5:40And they laughed at Him. After He had put them all outside, He took the child’s father and mother and His own companions, and went in to see the child.
- Matt 27:29And they twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on His head. They put a staff in His right hand and knelt down before Him to mock Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
- Job 11:3Should your babbling put others to silence? Will you scoff without rebuke?
- Job 6:29Reconsider; do not be unjust. Reconsider, for my righteousness is at stake.
- Luke 16:14The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all of this and were scoffing at Jesus.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 12:4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.