Job 6:21
in Job 6For now you are of no help; you see terror, and you are afraid.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For now ye are nothing; Ye see a terror, and are afraid.
KJV
For now ye are nothing; ye see my casting down, and are afraid.
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This verse in Job 6
Commentary
9 notes on this verseFor now ye are come, to see my stroke, and are afraid. As though he said in plain words, 'I feared God then, when, buoyed up with prosperity, I felt no hurts of the scourge. But ye, who fear not God from love, dread Him from the stroke of the rod alone.
This site's exposition
For now you are of no help
on Job 6:21-23
Job applies the brook figure: "For now you are of no help; you see terror, and you are afraid". He never asked them to "offer me a bribe from your wealth", so his complaint was no demand for money. He asked only for the kindness named in verse 14.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
It is not surprising for others to refuse to help me since even you, who seem wiser, fail to do it. So he continues, "Now you have come to see me and in only seeing my disease, you are afraid," but perhaps you feel obliged …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
When you saw me in my elevation you caressed me; but now that you see me in my dejection you are shy of me, are afraid of showing yourselves kind, lest I should thereby be emboldened to beg something of you, or to borrow" (compare
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
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
For now ye are nothing,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
As the dried-up brook is to the caravan, so are ye to me, namely, a nothing; ye might as well not be in existence [UMBREIT]. The Margin "like to them," or "to it" (namely, the waters of the brook), is not so good a reading. ye see, and are afraid--Ye are struck aghast at the sight of my misery, and ye lose presence of mind.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
For now ye are nothing - Ye are just to me as those deceitful torrents to the caravans of Tema and Sheba; they were nothing to them; ye are nothing to me. Ye see my casting down - Ye see that I have been hurried from my eminence into want and misery, as the flood from the top of the mountains, which is divided, evaporated, and lost in the desert. And are afraid - Ye are terrified at the calamity that has come upon me; and instead of drawing near to comfort me, ye start back at my appearance.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
For now ye are as nothing - Margin, “or, Ye are like to it, or them.” In the margin also the word “nothing” is rendered “not.” This variety arises from a difference of reading in the Hebrew text, many MSS. having instead of (לא lô'), not, (לו lô'), to him, or to it. Which is correct, it is not easy to determine.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| עַ֭תָּה | ʾatah | now | H6258 → | 433 times |
| הֱיִ֣יתֶם | heyitem | you have become | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| ל֑וֹ | lo | <into> it | ||
| תִּֽרְא֥וּ | tiru | you have seen | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| חֲ֝תַ֗ת | chatat | a terror | H2866 → | |
| וַתִּירָֽאוּ׃ | vatirau | and you were afraid | H3372 → | 315 times |
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
עַ֭תָּהnow
ʾatahH6258 →433 times
הֱיִ֣יתֶםyou have become
heyitemH1961 →3559 times
ל֑וֹ<into> it
lo
תִּֽרְא֥וּyou have seen
tiruH7200 →1300 times
חֲ֝תַ֗תa terror
chatatH2866 →
וַתִּירָֽאוּ׃and you were afraid
vatirauH3372 →315 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
2 Timothy 4:16At my first defense, no one stood with me, but everyone deserted me. May it not be charged against them.
it leads to
- Acts 7:60
Falling on his knees, he cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
- John 16:32
“Look, an hour is coming and has already come when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and you will leave Me all alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father…
- Acts 7:60
Through
Psalms 38:11My beloved and friends shun my disease, and my kinsmen stand at a distance.
it leads to
- Luke 23:49
But all those who knew Jesus, including the women who had followed Him from Galilee, stood at a distance watching these things.
- Psalms 31:11
Among all my enemies I am a disgrace, and among my neighbors even more. I am dreaded by my friends— they flee when they see me on the street.
- Job 19:13–17
He has removed my brothers from me; my acquaintances have abandoned me.
- Luke 23:49
Through
Jeremiah 51:9“We tried to heal Babylon, but she could not be healed. Abandon her! Let each of us go to his own land, for her judgment extends to the sky and reaches to the clouds.”
it leads to
- Jeremiah 50:16
Cut off the sower from Babylon, and the one who wields the sickle at harvest time. In the face of the oppressor’s sword, each will turn to his own people, each will flee to…
- Isaiah 13:14
Like a hunted gazelle, like a sheep without a shepherd, each will return to his own people, each will flee to his native land.
- Revelation 18:5
For her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.
- Jeremiah 50:16
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Job
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); 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.