New English Translation
Job 6:21
21For now you have become like these streams that are no help; you see a terror, and are afraid.
Job 6:21 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)For now ye are nothing; ye see my casting down, and are afraid.
- New International Version (NIV)Now you too have proved to be of no help; you see something dreadful and are afraid.
- English Standard Version (ESV)For you have now become nothing; you see my calamity and are afraid.
- New King James Version (NKJV)For now you are nothing, You see terror and are afraid.
Context of Job 6:21
19The caravans of Tema looked intently for these streams; the traveling merchants of Sheba hoped for them. 20They were distressed, because each one had been so confident; they arrived there, but were disappointed. For now you have become like these streams that are no help; you see a terror, and are afraid. 22“Have I ever said, ‘Give me something, and from your fortune make gifts in my favor’? 23Or ‘Deliver me from the enemy’s power, and from the hand of tyrants ransom me’?
Read all of Job 6Job 6:21 word by word
כִּֽי־עַ֭תָּה הֱיִ֣יתֶם ל֑וֹ תִּֽרְא֥וּ חֲ֝תַ֗ת וַתִּירָֽאוּ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 6:21
- Job 6:15My brothers have been as treacherous as a seasonal stream, and as the riverbeds of the intermittent streams that flow away.
- Job 13:4But you, however, are inventors of lies; all of you are worthless physicians!
- Psalms 62:9Men are nothing but a mere breath; human beings are unreliable. When they are weighed in the scales, all of them together are lighter than air.
- Isaiah 2:22Stop trusting in human beings, whose life’s breath is in their nostrils. For why should they be given special consideration?
- Jeremiah 17:5The Lord says, “I will put a curse on people who trust in mere human beings, who depend on mere flesh and blood for their strength, and whose hearts have turned away from the Lord.
- Job 2:11When Job’s three friends heard about all this calamity that had happened to him, each of them came from his own country – Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They met together to come to show sympathy for him and to console him.
- Psalms 38:11Because of my condition, even my friends and acquaintances keep their distance; my neighbors stand far away.
- Proverbs 19:7All the relatives of a poor person hate him; how much more do his friends avoid him – he pursues them with words, but they do not respond.
- Jeremiah 51:9Foreigners living there will say, ‘We tried to heal her, but she could not be healed. Let’s leave Babylonia and each go back to his own country. For judgment on her will be vast in its proportions. It will be like it is piled up to heaven, stacked up into the clouds.’
- Matthew 26:31Then Jesus said to them, “This night you will all fall away because of me, for it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’
- 2 Timothy 4:16At my first defense no one appeared in my support; instead they all deserted me – may they not be held accountable for it.
- Revelation 18:9Then the kings of the earth who committed immoral acts with her and lived in sensual luxury with her will weep and wail for her when they see the smoke from the fire that burns her up.
Commentaries on Job 6:21
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 21For 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…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 21For 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. Rosenmuller supposes that it is only a variety in writing the word לא l' where the waw is often used for.א The probability is, that it means…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 14-30Verses 14-30 In his prosperity Job formed great expectations from his friends, but now was disappointed. This he compares to the failing of brooks in summer. Those who rest their expectations on the creature, will find it fail when it should help them; whereas those who make God their confidence, have help in the time of need, He 4:16. Those who make gold their hope, sooner or later will be ashamed of it, and of their confidence in it. It is our wisdom to…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 14-27Job and his friends might have shared a covenant (special agreement) of loyalty and faith (Hebrew khesed; see Genesis 21:23; Exodus 15:13; 1 Chronicles 16:34). This bond would have made them like brothers, those who protect, and friends he could trust (Job 6:14–15; 6:21–23, 27). If they were in a covenant with one another, Job was accusing his friends of violating their covenant with him.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2121. 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. Job puts this mild construction on their failing to relieve him with affectionate consolation.Read the comment
Topics related to Job 6:21
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 6
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
New English Translation — © 1996-2016 Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C.
Commentaries