Bible Strands
Job 6:20
They are confounded because they had hoped; their arrival brings disappointment.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Job addresses his three friends during his personal lament, likening their promised support to desert caravans that arrive at a dry camp expecting water but finding none.
The words — בֹּשׁוּ (bošu) and יַחְפְּרוּ (yachpəru) both denote shame or disappointment, describing how the travelers’ initial confidence turns to frustration upon arrival.
The thread — The text tracks this motif in Jeremiah 14:3, where nobles return with empty jars and are put to shame, and Jeremiah 17:13, where abandoning God results in disgrace, while Romans 5:5 contrasts this by stating that hope in God does not disappoint.
Why it lands — The passage requires a reader to acknowledge that human alliances and earthly expectations can collapse, forcing a direct assessment of where one’s hope is actually anchored.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
They were confounded because they had hoped; they came thither, and were ashamed.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 14:3 The nobles send their servants for water; they go to the cisterns, but find no water; their jars return empty. They are ashamed and humiliated; they cover their heads.
- Jeremiah 17:13 O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who abandon You will be put to shame. All who turn away will be written in the dust, for they have abandoned the LORD, the fountain of living water.
- Romans 5:5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.
- Romans 9:33 as it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense; and the one who believes in Him will never be put to shame.”