I am as one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God, and he answereth him: the just upright man is laughed to scorn.
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.
- BSB I am a laughingstock to my friends, though I called on God, and He answered. The righteous and upright man is a laughingstock.
- 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 30:1But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.
- Ps 91:15He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.
- Job 17:6He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret.
- Job 21:3Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on.
- Job 17:2Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation?
- Ps 22:7–8All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
- Job 16:10They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me.
- Jer 33:3Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
- Acts 17:32And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.
- Mic 7:7Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.
- Prov 14:2He that walketh in his uprightness feareth the LORD: but he that is perverse in his ways despiseth him.
- Heb 11:36And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
- Ps 35:16With hypocritical mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth.
- Job 16:20My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God.
- Mark 5:40And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying.
- Matt 27:29And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!
- Job 11:3Should thy lies make men hold their peace? and when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?
- Job 6:29Return, I pray you, let it not be iniquity; yea, return again, my righteousness is in it.
- Luke 16:14And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.
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.