What Does Job 17:5 Mean?
He who speaks smooth things to his friends, and even the eyes of his children run out.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.THE KEY
The Hebrew word rendered “flattery” also carries the sense of a share or portion, so smooth speech here echoes the speaker’s advantage.
THE MEANING
When words to a friend are shaped by advantage, friendship becomes currency, and the cost reaches beyond the speaker. The verse pictures the children’s eyes growing dim, their sight brought to its limit.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this undoes is that flattering words are harmless if they preserve a friendship; here, speech bent toward gain carries a cost into the next generation.
THE ROOT
חֵלֶק
ḥēleq
GROWS FROM
חָלַק
ḥālaq
To be smooth; to divide or allot.
“smooth things” in this verse is ḥēleq. The word carries both the idea of smooth speech and the idea of a share or portion. That overlap lets the verse’s flattery echo a transaction: friendship is addressed in words that carry someone’s advantage.
ALSO GROWS
ḥēleq: A share or portion; smooth or flattering speech.
חֵלֶק
The range of this word joins the smoothness of flattery to the possibility of a portion gained.
maḥălîq: One who smooths over or flatters.
מַחֲלִיק
This same root appears in Proverbs 29:5 for the person whose flattering words spread a net for a neighbor’s feet.
תִּכְלֶנָּה
tikkalenah
GROWS FROM
כָּלָה
kālāh
To come to an end, be finished, or be consumed.
“run out” in this verse is tikkalenah. The verb evokes the eyes reaching their limit, as though their seeing is consumed. This makes the consequence vivid: the children’s sight itself is what wears away.
ALSO GROWS
kālāh: To be finished, consumed, or brought to an end.
כָּלָה
The verb in the verse draws on this sense of reaching an end, giving “fail” the force of exhaustion.
killāyōn: Wasting away or destruction.
כִּלָּיוֹן
This noun from the same root echoes the verse’s image of sight being worn down.
THE PATTERN
Speech bent toward advantage makes trust unsafe, turning closeness into vulnerability.
They speak emptiness, each one with his neighbor; with smooth lips, with two hearts, they speak.A man who smooths over his neighbor spreads a net for his steps.These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own cravings; their mouth speaks swollen words beyond measure, admiring faces for the sake of gain.THE THREAD
A man who smooths over his neighbor spreads a net for his steps.Job’s word for flattery and Proverbs’ word for the flatterer share the root חָלַק (ḥālaq), “to be smooth.” Proverbs makes the danger inside that smoothness visible: the flattering words spread a net.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us