Job 6:20
in Job 6They are confounded because they had hoped; their arrival brings disappointment.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
They were put to shame because they had hoped; They came thither, and were confounded.
KJV
They were confounded because they had hoped; they came thither, and were ashamed.
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This verse in Job 6
Commentary
10 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
They were confounded because they had hoped - The caravans of Tema and Sheba. The word “confounded” here means ashamed. It represents the state of feeling which one has who has met with disappointment. He is perplexed, distressed, and ashamed that he had entertained so confident hope; see the notes at Isa 30:5. They were downcast and sad that the waters had failed, and they looked on one another with confusion and dismay.
This site's exposition
Caravans turn aside from their routes
on Job 6:18-20
The figure continues: "Caravans turn aside from their routes; they go into the wasteland and perish". Job names trading peoples of Arabia, Tema and Sheba, counting on water that fails. "They are confounded because they had hoped" names the shame Job feels from friends who promised comfort and delivered accusation.
This site's exposition
They are confounded because they had hoped
Confounded carries the sense of shame, as Barnes explains it. The travelers feel foolish for trusting a stream that was bound to fail, and Gill notes they blame themselves for the vain hope. Job's hope in his friends ended the same way.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
You will not see this because, "They are embarrassed," to come to me; "because I hoped for them" i.e. because there was a time when I should have hoped for help from them. This is because men who do not want to help someone are …
They are confounded, because I have hoped. But blessed Job, after he had brought in the shortness of the present life in terms of contempt, therefore in the voice of all the Elect rises up justly against the wicked, subjoining, They are confounded, because I have hoped.
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
If we build a house upon the sand, we shall certainly be confounded, for it will fall in the storm, and we must thank ourselves for being such fools as to expect it would stand. We are not deceived unless we deceive ourselves. The application is very close (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
And they were confounded because they had hoped,.... When they came to the places where they hoped to find water, finding none were ashamed of their vain hope, and reflected upon themselves for being so foolish as to raise their expectations upon such a groundless surmise: they came thither, and were ashamed; which is the same thing expressed in different words; and aptly enough describes Job's disappointment in not meeting with that relief and comfort he expected from his friends, to whom he makes application of all this in the following words.
2 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
(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 Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
literally, "each had hoped"; namely, that their companions would find water. The greater had been their hopes the more bitter now their disappointment; they came thither--to the place. and were ashamed--literally, "their countenances burn," an Oriental phrase for the shame and consternation of deceived expectation; so "ashamed" as to disappointment (Ro 5:5).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בֹּ֥שׁוּ | boshu | they are disappointed | H954 → | |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| בָטָ֑ח | vatach | he had been confident | H982 → | 120 times |
| בָּ֥אוּ | bau | they come | H935 → | 2568 times |
| עָ֝דֶ֗יהָ | ʾadeiha | to it | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| וַיֶּחְפָּֽרוּ׃ | vaiyechparu | and they were disappointed | H2659 → |
בֹּ֥שׁוּthey are disappointed
boshuH954 →
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
בָטָ֑חhe had been confident
vatachH982 →120 times
בָּ֥אוּthey come
bauH935 →2568 times
עָ֝דֶ֗יהָto it
ʾadeihaH5704 →1261 times
וַיֶּחְפָּֽרוּ׃and they were disappointed
vaiyechparuH2659 →
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
Romans 5:5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.
it leads to
- Galatians 4:6
And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
- Ephesians 3:16–19
I ask that out of the riches of His glory He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being,
- Galatians 4:6
Through
Romans 9:33as it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense; and the one who believes in Him will never be put to shame.”
it leads to
- Isaiah 28:16
So this is what the Lord GOD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will never be shaken.
- Isaiah 28:16
Through
Jeremiah 17:13O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who abandon You will be put to shame. All who turn away will be written in the dust, for they have abandoned the LORD, the fountain of…
it leads to
- Revelation 7:17
For the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd. ‘He will lead them to springs of living water,’ and ‘God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”
- John 4:14
But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”
- John 7:37–38
On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
- John 4:10
Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
- Revelation 22:1
Then the angel showed me a river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
- Revelation 7:17
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Job
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; 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; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.