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Saturday, July 26th, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Read the Bible

Contemporary English Version

Job 6:18

I am like a caravan, lost in the desert while searching for water.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Scofield Reference Index - Inspiration;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - River;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Contrite;   Greatness of God;   Sanctification;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Merchant;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Caravan;   Chaos;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Job;   Trade and Commerce;   Wilderness, Desert;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Commerce;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Caravan;   Desert;   Job, Book of;   Nothing;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Caravans turn away from their routes,go up into the desert, and perish.
Hebrew Names Version
The caravans that travel beside them turn aside; They go up into the waste, and perish.
King James Version
The paths of their way are turned aside; they go to nothing, and perish.
English Standard Version
The caravans turn aside from their course; they go up into the waste and perish.
New Century Version
Travelers turn away from their paths and go into the desert and die.
New English Translation
Caravans turn aside from their routes; they go into the wasteland and perish.
Amplified Bible
"The paths of their course wind along, They go up into nothing and perish. [Your counsel is as helpful to me as a dry streambed in the heat of summer.]
New American Standard Bible
"The paths of their course wind along, They go up into wasteland and perish.
World English Bible
The caravans that travel beside them turn aside; They go up into the waste, and perish.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Or they depart from their way and course, yea, they vanish and perish.
Legacy Standard Bible
The paths of their course wind along;They go up into a formless place and perish.
Berean Standard Bible
Caravans turn aside from their routes; they go into the wasteland and perish.
Complete Jewish Bible
Their courses turn this way and that; they go up into the confusing waste and are lost.
Darby Translation
They wind about in the paths of their course, they go off into the waste and perish.
Easy-to-Read Version
It twists and turns along the way and then disappears into the desert.
George Lamsa Translation
The paths of their ways are winding; they go astray from their course and perish.
Good News Translation
Caravans get lost looking for water; they wander and die in the desert.
Lexham English Bible
The paths of their way wind around; they go up into the wasteland, and they perish.
Literal Translation
The paths of their way bend; they go to nothing and are lost.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
for the pathes yt they go in, are croked: they haist after vayne thinges, and shal perish.
American Standard Version
The caravans that travel by the way of them turn aside; They go up into the waste, and perish.
Bible in Basic English
The camel-trains go out of their way; they go up into the waste and come to destruction.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
They depart from the course of their wonted chanell to other places, they runne in vayne and perishe.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
The paths of their way do wind, they go up into the waste, and are lost.
King James Version (1611)
The pathes of their way are turned aside; they goe to nothing, and perish.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Thus I also have been deserted of all; and I am ruined, and become an outcast.
English Revised Version
The caravans that travel by the way of them turn aside; they go up into the waste, and perish.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The pathis of her steppis ben wlappid; thei schulen go in veyn, and schulen perische.
Update Bible Version
The caravans [that travel] by the way of them turn aside; They go up into the waste, and perish.
Webster's Bible Translation
The paths of their way are turned aside; they go to nothing, and perish.
New King James Version
The paths of their way turn aside, They go nowhere and perish.
New Living Translation
The caravans turn aside to be refreshed, but there is nothing to drink, so they die.
New Life Bible
The people on their camels turn away from them. They go into the waste places and die.
New Revised Standard
The caravans turn aside from their course; they go up into the waste, and perish.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Caravans turn aside by their course, they go up into a waste, and are lost:
Douay-Rheims Bible
The paths of their steps are entangled: they shall walk in vain, and shall perish.
Revised Standard Version
The caravans turn aside from their course; they go up into the waste, and perish.
Young's Literal Translation
Turn aside do the paths of their way, They ascend into emptiness, and are lost.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"The paths of their course wind along, They go up into nothing and perish.

Contextual Overview

14 My friends, I am desperate, and you should help me, even if I no longer respect God All-Powerful. 15 But you are treacherous 16 as streams that swell with melting snow, 17 then suddenly disappear in the summer heat. 18 I am like a caravan, lost in the desert while searching for water. 19 Caravans from Tema and Sheba 20 thought they would find water. But they were disappointed, 21 just as I am with you. Only one look at my suffering, and you run away scared.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Reciprocal: Jeremiah 10:24 - lest

Cross-References

Genesis 6:9
and this is the story about him. Noah was the only person who lived right and obeyed God.
Genesis 6:16
Build a roof on the boat and leave a space of about eighteen inches between the roof and the sides. Make the boat three stories high and put a door on one side.
Genesis 7:1
The Lord told Noah: Take your whole family with you into the boat, because you are the only one on this earth who pleases me.
Genesis 7:13
On that day Noah and his wife went into the boat with their three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives.
Genesis 17:4
I promise that you will be the father of many nations. That's why I now change your name from Abram to Abraham.
Genesis 17:7
I will always keep the promise I have made to you and your descendants, because I am your God and their God.
Genesis 17:21
But your son Isaac will be born about this time next year, and the promise I am making to you and your family will be for him and his descendants forever.
Isaiah 26:20
Go inside and lock the doors, my people. Hide there for a little while, until the Lord is no longer angry.
Hebrews 11:7
Because Noah had faith, he was warned about something that had not yet happened. He obeyed and built a boat that saved him and his family. In this way the people of the world were judged, and Noah was given the blessings that come to everyone who pleases God.
1 Peter 3:20
They had disobeyed God while Noah was building the boat, but God had been patient with them. Eight people went into that boat and were brought safely through the flood.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The paths of their way are turned aside,.... That is, the waters, when melted by the heat of the sun, and the warmth of the weather, run, some one way, and some another in little streams and windings, till they are quite lost and the tracks of them are no more to be seen; denoting that all appearance of friendship was quite gone, and no traces of it to be found:

they go to nothing, and perish: some of them are lost in little meanders and windings about, and others are exhaled by the heat of the sun, and go into "Tohu", as the word is, into empty air; so vain and empty, and perishing, were all the comforts he hoped for from his friends; though some understand this of the paths of travellers in the deserts being covered in the sand, and not to be seen and found; of which see Pliny z.

z Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 29.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The paths of their way are turned aside - Noyes renders this, “The caravans turn aside to them on their way.” Good, “The outlets of their channel wind about.” Rosenmuller, “The bands of travelers direct their journey to them.” Jerome, “Involved are the paths of their steps.” According to the interpretation of Rosenmuller, Noyes, Umbreit, and others, it means that the caravans on their journey turn aside from their regular way in order to find water there; and that in doing it they go up into a desert and perish. According to the other interpretation, it means that the channels of the stream wind along until they diminish and come to nothing. This latter I take to be the true sense of the passage, as it is undoubtedly the most poetical. It is a representation of the stream winding along in its channels, or making new channels as it flows from the mountain, until it diminishes by evaporation, and finally comes to nothing.

They go to nothing - Noyes renders this very singularly, “into the desert,” - meaning that the caravans, when they suppose they are going to a place of refreshment, actually go to a desert, and thus perish. The word used here, however תהוּ tôhû, does not occur in the sense of a desert elsewhere in the Scriptures. It denotes nothingness, emptiness, vanity (see Genesis 1:2), and very appropriately expresses the nothingness into which a stream vanishes when it is dried up or lost in the sand. The sense is, that those streams wander along until they become smaller and smaller, and then wholly disappear. They deceive the traveler who hoped to find refreshment there. Streams depending on snows and storms, and having no permanent fountains, cannot be confided in. Pretended friends are like them. In times of prosperity they are full of professions, and their aid is proffered to us. But we go to them when we need their assistance, when we are like the weary and thirsty traveler, and they disappear like deceitful streams in the sands of the desert.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 6:18. The paths of their way — They sometimes forsake their ancient channels, which is a frequent case with the river Ganges; and growing smaller and smaller from being divided into numerous streams, they go to nothing and perish - are at last utterly lost in the sands.


 
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