But my brothers are as faithless as wadis, as seasonal streams that overflow,
Parallel translations
- WEB My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away;
- KJV My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away;
- NKJV My brothers have dealt deceitfully like a brook, Like the streams of the brooks that pass away,
- NASB “My brothers have acted deceitfully like a wadi, Like the torrents of wadis which drain away,
- NLT My brothers, you have proved as unreliable as a seasonal brook that overflows its banks in the spring
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Job's brothers have proved as treacherous as a seasonal brook that dries up. He compares his friends to a stream that fails just when water is needed.
Overview
Job likens his friends to a wadi that runs in the rains but vanishes in drought, undependable when relied upon. The image powerfully conveys betrayal by those expected to help. In contrast stands the faithfulness of God, who is a fountain of living water that never fails, and of Christ, the friend who sticks closer than a brother and never disappoints the thirsty soul.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ps 38:11My beloved and friends shun my disease, and my kinsmen stand at a distance.
- Jer 15:18Why is my pain unending, and my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? You have indeed become like a mirage to me—water that is not there.
- Ps 41:9Even my close friend whom I trusted, the one who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.
- 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 is with Me.
- Ps 55:12–14For it is not an enemy who insults me; that I could endure. It is not a foe who rises against me; from him I could hide.
- John 13:18I am not speaking about all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But this is to fulfill the Scripture: ‘The one who shares My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.’
- Ps 88:18You have removed my beloved and my friend; darkness is my closest companion.
- Jude 1:12These men are hidden reefs in your love feasts, shamelessly feasting with you but shepherding only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried along by the wind; fruitless trees in autumn, twice dead after being uprooted.
- Jer 9:4–5“Let everyone guard against his neighbor; do not trust any brother, for every brother deals craftily, and every friend spreads slander.
- Mic 7:5–6Do not rely on a friend; do not trust in a companion. Seal the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms.
- Job 19:19All my best friends despise me, and those I love have turned against me.
- Jer 30:14All your lovers have forgotten you; they no longer seek you, for I have struck you as an enemy would, with the discipline of someone cruel, because of your great iniquity and your numerous sins.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 6:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.