Job 6:19

19 The caravans of Tema look [for these streams]. The traveling merchants of Sheba hope for them.

Job 6:19 Meaning and Commentary

Job 6:19

The troops of Tema looked
A city in Arabia, so called from Tema a son of Ishmael, ( Genesis 25:15 ) ; these troops or companies were travelling ones, either that travelled to Tema, or that went from thence to other places for merchandise, see ( Isaiah 21:13 Isaiah 21:14 ) ; these, as they passed along in their caravans, as the Turks their successors now do, looked at those places where in the wintertime they observed large waters frozen over, and covered with snow, and expected to have been supplied from thence in the summer season, for the extinguishing of their thirst:

the companies of Sheba waited for them:
another people in Arabia, which went in companies through the deserts, where being in great want of water for their refreshment, waited patiently till they came to those places, where they hoped to find water to relieve them, which they had before marked in the wintertime.

Job 6:19 In-Context

17 The wadis evaporate in warm weather; they disappear from their channels in hot weather.

18 Caravans turn away from their routes, go up into the desert, and perish.

19 The caravans of Tema look [for these streams]. The traveling merchants of Sheba hope for them.

20 They are ashamed because they had been confident [of finding water]. When they arrive there, they are frustrated.

21 So [this] is what you have now become [to me]. When you see something dreadful, you are afraid.