Job 6:16

16 Which are black by reason of the ice, [And] wherein the snow hideth itself:

Job 6:16 Meaning and Commentary

Job 6:16

Which are blackish by reason of the ice
When frozen over, they look of a blackish colour, and is what is called a black frost; and these either describe Job and his domestics, as some F8 think whom Eliphaz and his two friends compared to the above streams water passed away from, or passed by and neglected, and showed no friendship to; who were in black, mournful and rueful circumstances, through the severe hand of God upon them. The word is rendered, "those which mourn", ( Job 5:11 ) ; or rather the friends of Job compared to foul and troubled waters frozen over which cannot be so well discerned, or which were black through being frozen, and which describes the inward frame of their minds the foulness of their spirits the blackness of their hearts, though they outwardly appeared otherwise, as follows:

[and] wherein the snow is hid;
or "on whom the snow" falling, and lying on heaps, "hides" F9, or covers; so Job's friends, according to this account, were, though black within as a black frost yet white without as snow; they appeared, in their looks and words at first as candid, kind, and generous, but proved the reverse.


FOOTNOTES:

F8 So Michaelis.
F9 (glv Mlety wmyle) "super quibus accumulatur nix", Beza, "tegit se, q. d. multa nive teguntur", Drusius; "the frost is hidden by the snow", so Sephorno; or rather "the black and frozen waters".

Job 6:16 In-Context

14 To him that is ready to faint kindness [should be showed] from his friend; Even to him that forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.
15 My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, As the channel of brooks that pass away;
16 Which are black by reason of the ice, [And] wherein the snow hideth itself:
17 What time they wax warm, they vanish; When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.
18 The caravans [that travel] by the way of them turn aside; They go up into the waste, and perish.
The American Standard Version is in the public domain.