Albert Barnes Commentary Job 19:18

"Even young children despise me; If I arise, they speak against me." — Job 19:18 (ASV)

Yes, young children – Margin, or “the wicked.” This difference between the text and the margin arises from the ambiguity of the original word – עוילים ‛ăvı̂ylı̂ym. The word עויל ‛ăvı̂yl (from which our word “evil” comes) sometimes means the wicked, or the ungodly, as in (Job 16:11). It may also mean a child, or suckling (from עוּל ‛ûl – to give milk, to suckle, (1 Samuel 7:7–10); (Genesis 22:13); (Psalms 77:71); (Isaiah 40:11); ; (Isaiah 65:20))), and is doubtless used in this sense here.

Jerome, however, renders it “stulti – fools.” The Septuagint, strangely enough, translates it as, “They renounced me forever.” Dr. Good renders it, “Even the dependents.” So Schultens offers, Etiam clientes egentissimi – “even the most needy clients.” But the reference is probably to children who are represented as withholding from him the respect that was due to age.

I arose, and they spoke against me – “When I rise up, instead of regarding and treating me with respect, they make me an object of contempt and sport.” Compare the account of the respect that had formerly been shown him in (Job 29:8).