(14) В¶ To him that is afflicted pity should be shewed from his friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty. (15) My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away; (16) Which are blackish by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow is hid: (17) What time they wax warm, they vanish: when it is hot, they are consumed out of their place. (18) The paths of their way are turned aside; they go to nothing, and perish. (19) The troops of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them. (20) They were confounded because they had hoped; they came thither, and were ashamed. (21) For now ye are nothing; ye see my casting down, and are afraid. (22) В¶ Did I say, Bring unto me? or, Give a reward for me of your substance? (23) Or, Deliver me from the enemy's hand? or, Redeem me from the hand of the mighty? (24) Teach me, and I will hold my tongue: and cause me to understand wherein I have erred. (25) How forcible are right words! but what doth your arguing reprove? (26) Do ye imagine to reprove words, and the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind? (27) Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and ye dig a pit for your friend. (28) Now therefore be content, look upon me; for it is evident unto you if I lie. (29) Return, I pray you, let it not be iniquity; yea, return again, my righteousness is in it. (30) Is there iniquity in my tongue? cannot my taste discern perverse things?
In all these verses we have the warm expostulations of the man of Uz, concerning the unkindness, and deceitfulness, of those who professed friendship for him. They came, as was understood, to comfort him. Whereas everything that Eliphaz had hitherto advanced, in the name of himself and those who came with him, was directly full of reproof. He therefore compares them to the brook, which from its fulness, during the fall of rain, promised supply, but in the scorching summer when really needed, offereth nothing. The latter part of Job's speech is uncommonly striking. He apologizeth for any inadvertent expressions, which had dropped from him, from the desperate state of his afflictions; but beg them to observe that in all this, he had not condemned GOD, though he had lamented himself. His righteousness, by which no doubt he means to imply, his righteous thoughts of GOD, were the same. And thus, though Satan had charged him with hypocrisy, and his friends contended for the same, yet there was no hypocrisy with him.