Charles Ellicott 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 (i.e., God) hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret. —Or, I am become as a tabret, or drum openly, i.e., a signal of warning. “My case will be fraught with warning for others.” But some render it, “I am become an open abhorrence, or one in whose face they spit.” The general meaning is perfectly clear, though the way it may be expressed varies.