Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, April 27th, 2025
Second Sunday after Easter
Attention!
For 10¢ a day you can enjoy StudyLight.org ads
free while helping to build churches and support pastors in Uganda.
Click here to learn more!

Read the Bible

Complete Jewish Bible

Job 6:15

But my brothers are as deceptive as vadis, as vadi streams that soon run dry;

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Afflictions and Adversities;   Deception;   Friendship;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Brooks;   Deceit;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - River;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Contrite;   Greatness of God;   Sanctification;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Brook;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Brother;   Palestine;   River;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Job;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Brook;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Commerce;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Brother;   Channel;   Job, Book of;   Stream;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Brook;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
My brothers are as treacherous as a wadi,as seasonal streams that overflow
Hebrew Names Version
My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, As the channel of brooks that pass away;
King James Version
My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away;
English Standard Version
My brothers are treacherous as a torrent-bed, as torrential streams that pass away,
New Century Version
But my brothers cannot be counted on. They are like streams that do not always flow, streams that sometimes run over.
New English Translation
My brothers have been as treacherous as a seasonal stream, and as the riverbeds of the intermittent streams that flow away.
Amplified Bible
"My brothers have acted deceitfully like a brook, Like the torrents of brooks that vanish,
New American Standard Bible
"My brothers have acted deceitfully like a wadi, Like the torrents of wadis which drain away,
World English Bible
My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, As the channel of brooks that pass away;
Geneva Bible (1587)
My brethre haue deceiued me as a brook, and as the rising of the riuers they passe away.
Legacy Standard Bible
My brothers have betrayed me like a wadi,Like the torrents of wadis which pass away,
Berean Standard Bible
But my brothers are as faithless as a wadi, as seasonal streams that overflow,
Contemporary English Version
But you are treacherous
Darby Translation
My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a stream, as the channel of streams which pass away,
Easy-to-Read Version
But I cannot depend on you, my brothers. You are like a stream that has no water when the weather is dry but is flooded when the rains come.
George Lamsa Translation
My brethren have dealt deceitfully like dry brooks, like torrents which pass away.
Good News Translation
But you, my friends, you deceive me like streams that go dry when no rain comes.
Lexham English Bible
My companions are treacherous like a torrent-bed; like a streambed of wadis they flow away,
Literal Translation
My brothers have dealt deceitfully, like the torrent, like the streams of torrents, they pass away;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Myne owne brethren passe ouer by me as the waterbroke, that hastely runneth thorow ye valleys.
American Standard Version
My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, As the channel of brooks that pass away;
Bible in Basic English
My friends have been false like a stream, like streams in the valleys which come to an end:
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Myne owne brethren passe ouer by me as the water brooke, & as the ouerflowing of waters, whiche do hastly go away,
JPS Old Testament (1917)
My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that overflow,
King James Version (1611)
My brethren haue delt deceitfully as a brooke, & as the streame of brookes they passe away,
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
My nearest relations have not regarded me; they have passed me by like a failing brook, or like a wave.
English Revised Version
My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away;
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
My britheren passiden me, as a stronde doith, that passith ruschyngli in grete valeis.
Update Bible Version
My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, As the channel of brooks that pass away;
Webster's Bible Translation
My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, [and] as the stream of brooks they pass away;
New King James Version
My brothers have dealt deceitfully like a brook, Like the streams of the brooks that pass away,
New Living Translation
My brothers, you have proved as unreliable as a seasonal brook that overflows its banks in the spring
New Life Bible
My brothers have been like rivers that are not there when needed.
New Revised Standard
My companions are treacherous like a torrent-bed, like freshets that pass away,
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Mine own brethren, have proved treacherous like a torrent, like a channel of torrents which disappear:
Douay-Rheims Bible
My brethren have passed by me, as the torrent that passeth swiftly in the valleys.
Revised Standard Version
My brethren are treacherous as a torrent-bed, as freshets that pass away,
Young's Literal Translation
My brethren have deceived as a brook, As a stream of brooks they pass away.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"My brothers have acted deceitfully like a wadi, Like the torrents of wadis which vanish,

Contextual Overview

14 "A friend should be kind to an unhappy man, even to one who abandons Shaddai. 15 But my brothers are as deceptive as vadis, as vadi streams that soon run dry; 16 they may turn dark with ice and be hidden by piled-up snow; 17 but as the weather warms up, they vanish; when it's hot, they disappear. 18 Their courses turn this way and that; they go up into the confusing waste and are lost. 19 The caravans from Tema look for them, the travelers from Sh'va hope to find them; 20 but they are disappointed, because they were confident; on arrival there, they are frustrated. 21 "For now, you have become like that — just seeing my calamity makes you afraid.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

My brethren: Job 19:19, Psalms 38:11, Psalms 41:9, Psalms 55:12-14, Psalms 88:18, Jeremiah 9:4, Jeremiah 9:5, Jeremiah 30:14, Micah 7:5, Micah 7:6, John 13:18, John 16:32

as the stream: Jeremiah 15:18, Jude 1:12

Reciprocal: Exodus 21:8 - seeing Job 6:21 - ye are nothing Job 11:16 - as waters Job 14:11 - the flood Job 24:19 - Drought Proverbs 19:4 - the poor Proverbs 19:22 - and Isaiah 58:11 - fail Jeremiah 12:6 - thy brethren Lamentations 1:2 - all her friends Matthew 26:31 - and the

Cross-References

Genesis 7:20
the water covered the mountains by more than twenty-two-and-a-half feet.
Deuteronomy 3:11
‘Og king of Bashan was the last survivor of the Refa'im. His bed was made of iron; it is still in Rabbah with the people of ‘Amon. It was nine cubits long and four cubits wide, using the normal cubit [thirteen-and-a-half by six feet].

Gill's Notes on the Bible

My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook,.... Meaning his three friends, represented by Eliphaz, who were of the same sentiments with him, and behaved towards Job as he did: these were his brethren not by birth by blood nor by country, but by the profession of the same religion of the one true and living God in opposition to the idolatrous people among whom they dwelt; and this their relation to him is an aggravation of their perfidy and treachery, unfaithfulness and deceit, by which is meant their balking and disappointing him in his expectations; when they came to visit him as friends, he might reasonably expect they came to condole and sympathize with him, and comfort him; but, instead of this they reproached him and grieved him, and were miserable comforters of him; and this he illustrates by the simile of a "brook", which he enlarges upon in the following verses: these friends and brethren of his he compares to a "brook", not that was fed by a spring which continues, but filled with falls of water and melting snows from the hills, with which it is swelled, and looks like a large river for a while, but when these fail it is soon gone; hereby representing his friends in his state of prosperity, who looked big, and promised long and lasting friendship, but proved, in time of adversity, unfaithful and deceitful; and so it denotes the fickleness and inconstancy of their friendship:

[and] as the stream of brooks they pass away: or, "pass by" g, as a stream of water, fed by many brooks, or flows of water like unto many brooks, which run with great rapidity and force, and are quickly gone and seen no more; thus his friends, as such, passed by him, and were of no use to him any more than the priest and Levite were to the man that fell among thieves, Luke 10:30.

g יעברו "praetereunt", Mercerus, Schmidt; "transeunt", Piscator, Cocceius, Michaelis.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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. I looked for the language of condolence and compassion; for something to cheer my heart, and to uphold me in my trials - as weary and thirsty travelers look for water and are sadly disappointed when they come to the place where they expected to find it, and find the stream dried up. The simile used here is exquisitely beautiful, considered as a mere description of an actual occurrence in the deserts of Arabia. But its chief beauty consists in its exact adaptation to the case before him, and the point and pith of the reproof which it administers. “The fullness, strength, and noise of these temporary streams in winter, answer to the large professions made to Job in his prosperity by his friends. The dryness of the waters at the approach of summer, resembles the failure of their friendship in time of affliction.” Scott, as quoted by Noyes.

As a brook - That is, as a stream that is swelled by winter torrents, and that is dry in summer. Such streams abound in Arabia, and in the East generally. The torrents pour down from the hills in time of rain, or when swelled by the melting of the ice; but in summer they are dry, or their waters are lost in the sand. Even large streams are thus absorbed. The river Barrady, which waters Damascus, after passing to a short distance to the southeast of the city toward the Arabian deserts, is lost in the sand, or evaporated by the heat of the sun. The idea here is, that travelers in a caravan would approach the place where water had been found before, but would find the fountain dried up, or the stream lost in the sand; and when they looked for refreshment, they found only disappointment. In Arabia there are not many rivers. In Yemen, indeed, there are a few streams that flow the year round, and on the East the Euphrates has been claimed as belonging to Arabia. But most of the streams are winter torrents that become dry in summer, or rivulets that are swelled by heavy rains.

An illustration of the verse before us occurs in Campbell’s Travels in Africa. “In desert parts of Africa it has afforded much joy to fall in with a brook of water, especially when running in the direction of the journey, expecting it would prove a valuable companion. Perhaps before it accompanied us two miles it became invisible by sinking into the sand; but two miles farther along it would reappear and raise hopes of its continuance; but after running a few hundred yards, would sink finally into the sand, no more again to rise.” A comparison of a man who deceives and disappoints one to such a Stream is common in Arabia, and has given rise, according to Schultens, to many proverbs. Thus, they say of a treacherous friend, “I put no trust in thy torrent;” and, “O torrent, thy flowing subsides.” So the Scholiast on Moallakat says, “a pool or flood was called Gadyr, because travelers when they pass by it find it full of water, but when they return they find nothing there, and it seems to have treacherously betrayed them. So they say of a false man, that he is more deceitful than the appearance of water” - referring, perhaps, to the deceitful appearance of the mirage in the sands of the desert; see the notes at Isaiah 35:7.

And as the stream of brooks they pass away - As the valley stream - the stream that runs along in the valley, that is filled by the mountain torrent. They pass away on the return of summer, or when the rain ceases to fall, and the valley is again dry. So with the consolations of false friends. They cannot be depended on. All their professions are temporary and evanescent.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 6:15. 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.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile