John Trapp on Job 17:6

Verſe 6. He hath made me alſo a by-word of the people.] Here Job returnes to his old task of ſetting forth his own miſery; for what men are moſt ſenſible of, that their tongues do moſt of all run upon. Job is a by word or a Proverb to this day, for we ſay, As poor as Job; as of old they ſaid, Iro panperior, &c. He was become a common proverb, a publick mocking-ſtock, yea he was pro cantione and tympanum trita; as ſome ſenſe the next words. And aforetime (or, to mens faces) I was (or I am) [illegible: 1 letter] tabret: They ſing my miſeries to the Tabret, as a matter of mirth; they compoſe Comedies out of my Tragedies, and this greatneth my grief. I am openly a T[illegible: 1 letter]bret: ſo Broughton reads it. The Vulgar hath it, I am an example before them. The Chaldee Paraphraſt, I am at hell before them. The Hebrew word in Tophet, taken afterwards indeed for hell, but not ſo in Jobs t[illegible: 1 letter]me. The Septuagint, I became a ſport to them; David met with the like meaſure, Pſal. 69.19, 11. and the Church, Lam. 2.15. [non-Latin text not transcribed] And Chriſt on the Croſſe was matter of mirth to the malicious Jewes. God had made Job all this. He (that is, God) hath made me, &c. his name he ſpares in reverence: but every where he acknowledgeth God the Author of his troubles, as Mercer here noteth. The whole verſe may be read thus: He hath made me alſo a by-word of the people, where as aforetime, I was as a Tabret; that is, I am now a ſcorn to them who delighted in me in my proſperity.