Job 6:16
darkened because of the ice and the inflow of melting snow,
BSB
ASV
Which are black by reason of the ice, And wherein the snow hideth itself:
KJV
Which are blackish by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow is hid:
Over those that fear the frost, the snow rushes down. For the frost congeals below, but the snow falls down from above. And often there are persons, who, while they fear temporal adversities, expose themselves to the severity of everlasting visitation. Concerning whom it is rightly declared by the Psalmist, There were they in great fear where no fear was.
Which are blackish by reason of the ice,.... When frozen over, they look of a blackish colour, and is what is called a black frost; and these either describe Job and his domestics, as some (h) think whom Eliphaz and his two friends compared to the above streams water passed away from, or passed by and neglected, and showed no friendship to; who were in black, mournful and rueful circumstances, through the severe hand of God upon them.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.