properly · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
hoped
בָטָ֑חva.Tach
H982
figuratively · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
came
בָּ֥אוּBa.'u
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
ashamed
וַיֶּחְפָּֽרוּvai.yech.Pa.ru
H2659
to blush · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Jeremiah 14:3-4 And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empt…
Jeremiah 17:13 O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they…
Romans 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Romans 9:33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 6:14-21
Eliphaz had been very severe in his censures of Job; and his companions, though as yet they had said little, yet had intimated their concurrence with him. Their unkindness therein poor Job here complains of, as an aggravation of his calamity and a further excuse of his desire to die; for what satisfaction could he ever expect in this world when those that should have been his comforters thus proved his tormentors?
I. He shows what reason he had to expect kindness from them. His expectation was grounded upon the common principles of humanity (Job 6:14): "To him that is afflicted, and that is wasting and melting under his affliction, pity should be shown from his friend; and he that does not s…
literally, "each had hoped"; namely, that their companions would find water. The greater had been their hopes the more bitter now their disappointment;
they came thither--to the place.
and were ashamed--literally, "their countenances burn," an Oriental phrase for the shame and consternation of deceived expectation; so "ashamed" as to disappointment (Rom 5:5).
John Gill on Job 6:20
And they were confounded because they had hoped,.... When they came to the places where they hoped to find water, finding none were ashamed of their vain hope, and reflected upon themselves for being so foolish as to raise their expectations upon such a groundless surmise:
they came thither, and were ashamed; which is the same thing expressed in different words; and aptly enough describes Job's disappointment in not meeting with that relief and comfort he expected from his friends, to whom he makes application of all this in the following words.
Keil & Delitzsch on Job 6:18-20
18 The paths of their course are turned about,
They go up in the waste and perish.
19 The travelling bands of Tma looked for them,
The caravans of Saba hoped for them;
20 They were disappointed on account of their trust,
They came thus far, and were red with shame.
As the text is pointed, ארחות, Job 6:18, are the paths of the torrents. Hitz., Ew., and Schlottm., however, correct ארחות, caravans, which Hahn even thinks may be understood without correction, since he translates: the caravans of their way are turned about (which is intended to mean: aside from the way that they are pursuing), march into the desert and perish (i.e., because the streams on which they reckoned are dried up). So, in…
The Church Fathers
"And you also mercilessly arouse yourselves against me," thinking that man is happy if he overflows with the goods of this world. They insulted him rather than sympathized with his ills.
They are confounded, because I have hoped. But blessed Job, after he had brought in the shortness of the present life in terms of contempt, therefore in the voice of all the Elect rises up justly against the wicked, subjoining, They are confounded, because I have hoped. When the wicked inflict evils upon the good, if they see them to be shaken from the interior hope, they are overjoyed at their deceiving taking effect, for they account the spread of their error to be the greatest gain, in that they rejoice have fellows in perdition, but whilst the good man's hope is rooted within, and never bent to the ground by outward evils, confusion seizes the soul of the wicked, in that whilst they are unable to get at the innermost parts of the distressed, they are ashamed to prove themselves cruel for no end. Therefore let the holy man say in his own voice, let him say in the endurance of the Church universal in affliction and groaning, Who, amidst the contrarieties of the wicked, without any default of mind, longs for the joy of the heavenly recompense, and by dying holds on to life; They are confounded, because I have hoped. As though it were in plain words, 'because the wicked by hard persecutions fail to soften the force of my rigid mind, surely being covered with shame they lose the labours of their cruel ways.' And hence at once he looks on the blessings of the Retribution to come as henceforth here, and marks what an arraignment awaits the wicked at the Judgment, adding, They came even unto me, and were ashamed. ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION For lost sinners 'come even to Holy Church' on the Day of Judgment, in that they are then brought even to the beholding of her glory, that for the greater punishment of their guilt they may see in their rejection what they have lost. Then shame covers the wicked, when conscience bearing witness convicts them in the sight of the Judge. Then the Judge is beheld without, and the accuser is felt within. Then every sin is called up before the eyes, and the soul, over and above the burnings of hell, is worse tortured by its own fire. Concerning these it is rightly said by the Prophet, Lord, let Thy hand be exalted, that they see not, let them see and be confounded. For now their merits darken the understanding of lost sinners, but then the knowledge of their guilt enlightens it, so that both now they in no wise see what is to be…
The city of Tema in the northern Arabian desert was at the junction of roads from Damascus to Mecca and from the Persian Gulf to Aqaba (Isa 21:14; Jer 25:23). It might have been named after one of Ishmael’s descendants (Gen 25:15). It was not the same as Teman, Eliphaz’s home in Edom. • Sheba, located in southwest Arabia, was a market city for precious commodities (Ps 72:10, 15; Isa 60:6; Jer 6:20; Ezek 27:22-23; 38:13).
Rashi on Job 6:20
They are ashamed because they had hoped; they came to it Those who drink it are ashamed because everyone had hoped to drink thereof.
