He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.
Parallel translations
- WEB He who denounces his friends for plunder, Even the eyes of his children shall fail.
- BSB If a man denounces his friends for a price, the eyes of his children will fail.
- NKJV He who speaks flattery to his friends, Even the eyes of his children will fail.
- NASB “He who informs against friends for a share of the spoils, The eyes of his children also will perish.
- NLT They betray their friends for their own advantage, so let their children faint with hunger.
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 warns that one who betrays friends for gain brings ruin even on his own children. Treachery carries lasting consequences.
Overview
Job invokes a proverb that the man who informs on or flatters his friends for profit will see his own children suffer for it. The likely point is that his comforters, by their false accusations, fall under such a warning. It reflects the biblical principle that betrayal and false witness bring judgment, while faithfulness is honored by God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ps 12:2–3They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.
- Prov 20:19He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets: therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips.
- Prov 29:5A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet.
- Exod 20:5Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
- 1 Kgs 11:12Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father’s sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son.
- Job 32:21–22Let me not, I pray you, accept any man’s person, neither let me give flattering titles unto man.
- Deut 28:65And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind:
- Job 11:20But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost.
- 1 Th 2:5For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloke of covetousness; God is witness:
- Lam 4:17As for us, our eyes as yet failed for our vain help: in our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save us.
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 17:5 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.