Job 17:2

Mockers. Job’s friends had insisted that his life might be spared if he would repent of his sins. They even held out before him the prospects of a bright future. To Job such an outlook was so remote that it appeared as sheer mockery.

In their provocation. The word translated “provocation” comes from a root meaning, “to be rebellious.” The figure seems to mean that Job could obtain no relief from these mockeries.