Albert Barnes Commentary Job 17:6

"But he hath made me a byword of the people; And they spit in my face." — Job 17:6 (ASV)

He has also - That is, God has done this.

Also a by-word - A proverb (משׁל mâshâl); a term of reproach, ridicule, or scorn. He has exposed me to derision.

And formerly - Margin “before them.” The margin is the correct translation of the Hebrew, פנים pânı̂ym. It means, in their presence, or in their view.

I was as a tabret - This is an unfortunate translation. The true meaning is, “I have become their ‘abhorrence,’ or am to them an object of contempt.” The Vulgate says, “I am an example (exemplum) to them.” The Septuagint, “I have become a laughter (γέλως gelōs) to them.” The Chaldee renders it, “You have placed me for a proverb to the people, and I shall be Gehenna (גיהנם gayhı̂nnôm) to them.”

The Hebrew word תפת tôpheth—or “Tophet”—is the name often given in the Scriptures to the Valley of Hinnom, the place where children were sacrificed to Moloch (see the notes at Matthew 5:22). However, there is no evidence or probability that the word was used this way in Job’s time. It is never used in the Scriptures in the sense of a “tabret,” that is, a tabor or small drum, though the word תף toph is used this way (see the notes at Isaiah 5:12).

The word used here is probably derived from the obsolete verb תיף typ—“to spit out”—and then to spit out with contempt. The verb is used this way in Chaldee. “Castell.” The meaning of the word probably still lives in Arabic. The Arabic word means to spit out with contempt, and the various forms of the nouns derived from the verb are applied to anything detested, or detestable; to the parings of the nails; to an abandoned woman; to a dog, etc. See “Castell” on this word.

I have no doubt that this is the sense here. We have here a word whose true meaning is to be sought in Arabic; Job means to say that he was treated as the most loathsome and execrable object.