Job 6:17

17 But they stop flowing when the dry season comes. They disappear from their stream beds when the weather warms up.

Job 6:17 Meaning and Commentary

Job 6:17

What time they wax warm they vanish
The ice and the snow, which, when the weather becomes warm, they melt away and disappear; and in like manner, he suggests his friends ceased to be friends to him in a time of adversity; the sun of affliction having looked upon him, they deserted him, at least did not administer comfort to him:

when it is hot they are consumed out of their place;
when it is hot weather, and the sun has great strength then the waters, which swelled through the floods and fall of rain and snow, and which when frozen, looked black and big as if they had great depth in them, were quickly dried up, and no more to be seen in the place where they were; which still expresses the short duration of friendship among men, which Job had a sorrowful experience of.

Job 6:17 In-Context

15 But my friends aren't faithful to me. They are like streams that only flow for part of the year. They are like rivers that flow over their banks

16 when the ice begins to break up. The streams rise when the snow starts to melt.

17 But they stop flowing when the dry season comes. They disappear from their stream beds when the weather warms up.

18 Groups of traders turn away from their usual paths. They go up into the dry and empty land. And they die there.

19 Traders from Tema look for water. Traveling merchants from Sheba also hope to find it.