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Complete Jewish Bible
Job 6:14
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A despairing man should receive loyalty from his friends,even if he abandons the fear of the Almighty.
"To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend; Even to him who forsakes the fear of Shaddai.
To him that is afflicted pity should be shewed from his friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.
"He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
"They say, ‘A person's friends should be kind to him when he is in trouble, even if he stops fearing the Almighty.'
"To the one in despair, kindness should come from his friend even if he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
"For the despairing man there should be kindness from his friend; So that he does not abandon (turn away from) the fear of the Almighty.
"For the despairing man there should be kindness from his friend; So that he does not abandon the fear of the Almighty.
"To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend; Even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
He that is in miserie, ought to be comforted of his neighbour: but men haue forsaken the feare of the Almightie.
"For the despairing man lovingkindness should be from his friend;But he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
A despairing man should have the kindness of his friend, even if he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
My friends, I am desperate, and you should help me, even if I no longer respect God All-Powerful.
For him that is fainting kindness [is meet] from his friend; or he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.
"Friends should be loyal to you in times of trouble, even if you turn away from God All-Powerful.
He who withholds peace from his friend, forsakes the worship of the Almighty.
In trouble like this I need loyal friends— whether I've forsaken God or not.
"Loyal love should come for the afflicted from his friend, even if he forsakes the fear of Shaddai.
To the faint, mercy is due from his friend; for he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
like as yf one withdrewe a good dede from his frende, and forsoke the feare of God?
To him that is ready to faint kindness should be showed from his friend; Even to him that forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.
He whose heart is shut against his friend has given up the fear of the Ruler of all.
He that is in tribulation, ought to be comforted of his neyghbour: but the feare of the almightie is cleane away.
To him that is ready to faint kindness is due from his friend, even to him that forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.
To him that is afflicted, pitie should be shewed from his friend; But he forsaketh the feare of the Almighty.
Mercy has rejected me; and the visitation of the Lord has disregarded me.
To him that is ready to faint kindness should be shewed from his friend; even to him that forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.
He that takith awei merci fro his frend, forsakith the drede of the Lord.
To him that is ready to faint kindness [should be shown] from his friend; Even to him that forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
To him that is afflicted pity [should be shown] from his friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.
"To him who is afflicted, kindness should be shown by his friend, Even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
"One should be kind to a fainting friend, but you accuse me without any fear of the Almighty.
"Kindness from a friend should be shown to a man without hope, or he might turn away from the fear of the All-powerful.
"Those who withhold kindness from a friend forsake the fear of the Almighty.
The despairing, from his friend, should have lovingkindness, or, the reverence of the Almighty, he may forsake.
He that taketh away mercy from his friend, forsaketh the fear of the Lord.
"He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
To a despiser of his friends [is] shame, And the fear of the Mighty he forsaketh.
"When desperate people give up on God Almighty, their friends, at least, should stick with them. But my brothers are fickle as a gulch in the desert— one day they're gushing with water From melting ice and snow cascading out of the mountains, But by midsummer they're dry, gullies baked dry in the sun. Travelers who spot them and go out of their way for a drink end up in a waterless gulch and die of thirst. Merchant caravans from Tema see them and expect water, tourists from Sheba hope for a cool drink. They arrive so confident—but what a disappointment! They get there, and their faces fall! And you, my so-called friends, are no better— there's nothing to you! One look at a hard scene and you shrink in fear. It's not as though I asked you for anything— I didn't ask you for one red cent— Nor did I beg you to go out on a limb for me. So why all this dodging and shuffling?
"For the despairing man there should be kindness from his friend; So that he does not forsake the fear of the Almighty.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
To him: Job 4:3, Job 4:4, Job 16:5, Job 19:21, Proverbs 17:17, Romans 12:15, 1 Corinthians 12:26, 2 Corinthians 11:29, Galatians 6:2, Hebrews 13:3
is afflicted: Heb. melteth
he forsaketh: Genesis 20:11, Psalms 36:1-3, Luke 23:40
Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 1:6 - adversary 1 Samuel 1:8 - why weepest Job 2:11 - friends Job 15:4 - castest off Job 16:4 - if your soul Job 19:19 - they whom Proverbs 25:19 - General Micah 7:5 - ye not in Luke 10:31 - he passed Philippians 1:16 - supposing 2 Peter 2:17 - are wells
Cross-References
When she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus basket, coated it with clay and tar, put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the riverbank.
Back then, before the Flood, people went on eating and drinking, taking wives and becoming wives, right up till the day Noach entered the ark;
People ate and drank, and men and women married, right up until the day Noach entered the ark; then the flood came and destroyed them all.
to those who were disobedient long ago, in the days of Noach, when God waited patiently during the building of the ark, in which a few people — to be specific, eight — were delivered by means of water.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
To him that is afflicted pity [should be showed] from his friend,.... An "afflicted" man is an object of pity, one that is afflicted of God; either inwardly with a wounded spirit, with a sense of God's displeasure, with divine desertions, with the arrows of the Almighty sticking in him, the poison thereof drinking up his spirits; or outwardly with diseases of body, with want of the necessaries of life, with loss of near relations, as well as substance, which was Job's case; or afflicted by Satan, shot at, sifted and buffered by him, distressed by his temptations, suggestions, and solicitations; or afflicted by men, reproached and persecuted for righteousness sake: in all such cases and circumstances "pity" should be showed; which is an inward affection of the mind, a sympathy of spirit, a sensible feeling of the afflictions of others, and which is expressed by gestures, motions, and actions, as by visiting them in their affliction, speaking comfortably to them, and relieving their necessities according to ability, and as the case requires: and this may be expected from a "friend", and what the law of friendship requires, whether it be in a natural and civil sense, or in a religious and spiritual one; the union between friends being so near and close, that they are, as it were, one soul, as David and Jonathan were; and as the people of God, members of the same body are, so that if one suffers, all the rest do, or should suffer and sympathize with it: and though this duty is not always performed, at least as it should be, by natural and spiritual friends, yet this grace is always shown by God, our best of friends, who pities his children and by Christ, who is a friend that loves at all times, a brother born for adversity, and that sticks closer than any brother, and cannot but be touched with the feeling of the infirmities of his friends. The words may be rendered, "to him that is melted" c; afflictions are like a furnace or refining pot for the melting of metals, and are called the furnace of afflictions: and saints are the metal, which are put into it; and afflictions also are the fire, of fiery trials, which heat and melt, and by which means the dross of sin and corruption is removed, and the graces of the spirit are tried and made the brighter; though here it rather signifies the melting of the heart like wax or water through the affliction, and denotes the anguish and distress, the trembling and fears, a person is in through it, being overwhelmed and borne down by it, which was Job's case: or "he that melts pity", or "whose pity melts", or "melts in pity to his friend, he forsakes" d, c. that is, he that fails in pity, is destitute of compassion, and shuts up the bowels of it to his friend in distress, has not the fear of God before his eyes and this sense makes Job himself to be the friend in affliction, and Eliphaz, and those with him, the persons that are deficient in their mercy, pity, and compassion. Some render the words e, "should reproach [be cast] on him that is afflicted, as that he forsakes the fear of the Almighty?" the word for pity is so used in Proverbs 14:34; and the reproach on Job was, that he had cast off the fear of God, Job 4:6. This grieved him most of all, and added to his affliction, and of which he complains as very cruel usage; and very cutting it was that he should be reckoned a man destitute of the fear of God, and that because he was afflicted by him; though rather the following words,
but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty, are a charge upon his friend Eliphaz for not showing pity to him in his affliction, which was tacitly forsaking the fear of God. Job here recriminates and retorts the charge of want of the fear of God on Eliphaz himself; for to show mercy to an afflicted friend is a religious act, a part of pure and undefiled religion, a branch of the fear of God; and he that neglects it is so far wanting in it, and acts contrary to his profession of God, of fear of him, and love to him; see James 1:26; or "otherwise he forsakes", c. f.
c למס "liquefacto", Vatablus, Mercerus, Beza so Ben Gersom. d "Cujus liquescit benignitas", Junius Tremellius, Piscator, "qui misericordia erga amicum contabescit", Schultens. e Mercerus, Vatablus, so Ben Gersom. Some interpret it as a charge that he forsakes both mercy and the fear of the Lord so R. Simeon Bar Tzemach, Sephorno, and Ben Melech. f So Pagninus & Beza.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
To him that is afflicted - Margin, “melteth.” The word here used (מס mâs) is from מסס mâsas, to melt, flow down, waste away, and here means one who pines away, or is consumed under calamities. The design of this verse is, to reprove his friends for the little sympathy which they had shown for him. He had looked for consolation in his trials, and he had a right to expect it; but he says that he had met with just the opposite, and that his calamity was aggravated by the fact that they had dealt only in the language of severity.
Pity should be showed from his friend - Good renders this, “shame to the man who despiseth his friend.” A great variety of interpretations have been proposed of the passage, but our translation has probably expressed the true sense. If there is any place where kindness should be shown, it is when a man is sinking under accumulated sorrows to the grave.
But he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty - This may be either understood as referring to the language which Job says they had used of him - charging him with forsaking the fear of God, instead of consoling him; or it may mean that they had forsaken the fear of God in reproaching him, and in failing to comfort him; or it may mean that if such kindness were not shown to a friend in trial, he would be left to cast off the fear of God. This last interpretation is adopted by Noyes. Good supposes that it is designed to be a severe reproach of Eliphaz, for the course which he had pursued. It seems to me that this is probably the correct interpretation, and that the particle ו (v) here is used in an adversative sense, meaning that while it was an obvious dictate of piety to show kindness to a friend, Eliphaz had forgotten this obligation, and had indulged himself in a strain of remark which could not have been prompted by true religion. This sentiment he proceeds to illustrate by one of the most beautiful comparisons to be found in any language.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Job 6:14. To him that is afflicted pity should be showed from his friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.] The Vulgate gives a better sense, Qui tollit ab amico suo misericordiam, timorem Domini dereliquit, "He who takes away mercy from his friend, hath cast off the fear of the Lord." The word למס lammas, which we render to him who is AFFLICTED, from מסה masah, to dissolve, or waste away, is in thirty-two of Dr. Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS. למאס lemoes, "to him that despiseth his friend;" and hence the passage may be read: To him who despiseth his friend, it is a reproach; and he will forsake the fear of the Almighty: or, as Mr. Good translates,
"Shame to the man who despiseth his friend!
He indeed hath departed from the fear of the Almighty."
Eliphaz had, in effect, despised Job; and on this ground had acted any thing but the part of a friend towards him; and he well deserved the severe stroke which he here receives. A heathen said, Amicus certus in re incerta cernitur; the full sense of which we have in our common adage:-
A FRIEND IN NEED is a FRIEND INDEED
Job's friends, so called, supported each other in their attempts to blacken the character of this worthy man; and their hand became the heavier, because they supposed the hand of God was upon him. To each of them, individually, might be applied the words of another heathen: -
_____________ Absentem qui rodit amicum,
Qui non defendit alio culpante; solutos
Qui captat risus hominum, famamque dicacis,
Fingere qui non visa potest; commissa tacere
Qui nequit; hic niger est; hunc tu, Romane, caveto.
HOR. Satyr. lib. i., s. iv., ver. 81.
He who, malignant, tears an absent friend;
Or, when attack'd by others, don't defend;
Who trivial bursts of laughter strives to raise,
And courts, of prating petulance, the praise;
Of things he never saw who tells his tale,
And friendship's secrets knows not to conceal;__
This man is vile; here, Roman, fix your mark;
His soul's as black as his complexion's dark.
FRANCIS.
