Job 17:5

5. He… friends The common reading is, He who betrays friends for a spoil.

Flattery Hhelck, signifies a share of spoil. The spoil which the treacherous gain proves a curse to their children. Hitzig unites the verse with the preceding, thus: Exalt not “him who invites friends to a feast ( tsum Theilen) while the eyes of his children fail.” Comp. Job 11:20. He is profuse in his hospitality, while his children have nothing to eat. Job’s friends rejoice in a superabundance of wisdom for others, but have none for themselves. The well-timed thrust for which though he had to overleap the lists of continuous thought Job was always ready, assorts well with the preceding verse. The verse, however, looks like a proverbial saying whose exact meaning has been lost.