My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away;
Parallel translations
- KJV My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away;
- BSB But my brothers are as faithless as wadis, as seasonal streams that overflow,
- 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 lovers and my friends stand aloof from my plague. My kinsmen stand far away.
- Jer 15:18Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Will you indeed be to me as a deceitful brook, like waters that fail?
- Ps 41:9Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who ate bread with me, has lifted up his heel against me.
- John 16:32Behold, the time is coming, yes, and has now come, that you will be scattered, everyone to his own place, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
- Ps 55:12–14For it was not an enemy who insulted me, then I could have endured it. Neither was it he who hated me who raised himself up against me, then I would have hidden myself from him.
- John 13:18I don’t speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen. But that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats bread with me has lifted up his heel against me.’
- Ps 88:18You have put lover and friend far from me, and my friends into darkness.
- Jude 1:12These are hidden rocky reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you, shepherds who without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
- Jer 9:4–5“Everyone beware of his neighbor, and don’t trust in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will go about with slanders.
- Mic 7:5–6Don’t trust in a neighbor. Don’t put confidence in a friend. With the woman lying in your embrace, be careful of the words of your mouth!
- Job 19:19All my familiar friends abhor me. They whom I loved have turned against me.
- Jer 30:14All your lovers have forgotten you. They don’t seek you: for I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins were increased.
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.