Job 6:15
in Job 6But my brothers are as faithless as wadis, as seasonal streams that overflow,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, As the channel of brooks that pass away;
KJV
My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away;
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This verse in Job 6
Commentary
12 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Those whom I regarded as "my brethren," from whom I looked for faithfulness in my adversity, have disappointed me, as the streams failing from drought--wadies of Arabia, filled in the winter, but dry in the summer, which disappoint the caravans expecting to find water there.
This site's exposition
But my brothers are as faithless as wadis
on Job 6:15-17
Job turns the friendship into a figure: "my brothers are as faithless as wadis". The streams run dark with ice and melting snow when no one needs water, failing when the dry season makes them necessary. These are wadis of the Arabian desert, torrents in winter and dust in summer.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
The streams' waters fall from heaven and are symbols of the prophecies and oracles announced to the Jewish people through the prophets, just as through mystic clouds, as if the prophets' words were rains falling from heaven.
Even this happened to test Job. For the absence of friends in the midst of suffering is no small pain. Even the holy David sang as he experienced similar suffering, "Look on my right hand and see—there is no one who takes notice of me." …
The Medieval Church2 voices
Next he shows his family has abandoned him when he says, "My brothers," i.e. my relatives, "have passed me by." He uses the analogy of those who walk along together. If one falls in a ditch, the others pass by nevertheless abandoning him there. In …
My brethren have passed by me like a brook which passeth by rapidly in the hollows. Because the mind of the reprobate is set on present things alone, for the most part it proves a stranger to the scourge now, in proportion as hereafter it remains an exile from the inheritance.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Note, It is fraud and deceit not only to violate our engagements to our friends, but to frustrate their just expectations from us, especially the expectations we have raised. Note, further, It is our wisdom to cease from man.
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me. 5 Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? or loweth the ox over his fodder? 6 Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook,....
(1.) Their pretensions are fitly compared to the great show which the brooks make when they are swollen with the waters of a land flood, by the melting of the ice and snow, which make them blackish or muddy,
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Have dealt deceitfully as a brook - There is probably an allusion here to those land torrents which make a sudden appearance, and as suddenly vanish; being produced by the rains that fall upon the mountains during the rainy season, and are soon absorbed by the thirsty sands over which they run. At first they seem to promise a permanent stream, and are noticed with delight by the people, who fill their tanks or reservoirs from their waters; but sometimes they are so large and rapid as to carry every thing before them: and then suddenly fail, so that there is no time to fill the tanks. The approach of Job’s friends promised much of sympathy and compassion; his expectations were raised: but their conduct soon convinced him that they were physicians of no value; therefore he compares them to the deceitful torrents that soon pass away.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
My brethren - To wit, the three friends who had come to condole with him. He uses the language of brethren, to intimate what he had a right to expect from them. It is common in all languages to give the name brethren to friends. Have dealt deceitfully - That is, I have been sadly disappointed.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַ֭חַי | ʾachai | brothers my | H251 → | 630 times |
| בָּגְד֣וּ | bagedu | they have acted treacherously | H898 → | |
| כְמוֹ־ | khemov- | like | H3644 → | 143 times |
| נָ֑חַל | nachal | a wadi | H5158 → | 141 times |
| כַּאֲפִ֖יק | kaafik | like a stream-bed of | H650 → | 19 times |
| נְחָלִ֣ים | nechalim | wadis | H5158 → | 141 times |
| יַעֲבֹֽרוּ׃ | yaavoru | [which] they pass away | H5674 → | 556 times |
אַ֭חַיbrothers my
ʾachaiH251 →630 times
בָּגְד֣וּthey have acted treacherously
bageduH898 →
כְמוֹ־like
khemov-H3644 →143 times
נָ֑חַלa wadi
nachalH5158 →141 times
כַּאֲפִ֖יקlike a stream-bed of
kaafikH650 →19 times
נְחָלִ֣יםwadis
nechalimH5158 →141 times
יַעֲבֹֽרוּ׃[which] they pass away
yaavoruH5674 →556 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
John 13:18I am not speaking about all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But this is to fulfill the Scripture: ‘The one who shares My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.’
it leads to
- Psalms 41:9
Even my close friend whom I trusted, the one who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.
- John 17:12
While I was with them, I protected and preserved them by Your name, the name You gave Me. Not one of them has been lost, except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture…
- Mark 14:20
He answered, “It is one of the Twelve—the one who is dipping his hand into the bowl with Me.
- Psalms 41:9
Through
Psalms 41:9Even my close friend whom I trusted, the one who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.
it leads to
- Matthew 26:23
Jesus answered, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with Me will betray Me.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- John 13:18
I am not speaking about all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But this is to fulfill the Scripture: ‘The one who shares My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.’
- Psalms 55:12–14
For it is not an enemy who insults me; that I could endure. It is not a foe who rises against me; from him I could hide.
- Psalms 55:20–22
My companion attacks his friends; he violates his covenant.
- John 13:26–27
Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I give this morsel after I have dipped it.” Then He dipped the morsel and gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot.
- Matthew 26:23
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Job
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON JOB 6:15; Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON JOB 6:15; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book VII; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.