# To the person who is about to faint, faithfulness should be shown by his friend

This can be stated in active form. AT: "A friend should be faithful to the person who feels he is about to faint" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-activepassive]])

# who is about to faint

This speaks of a person who feels hopeless and is overwhelmed by his troubles as if he were about to physically faint. AT: "who feels hopeless" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor]])

# even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty

"even if he stops fearing Almighty God." Possible meanings are 1) the faint person does not fear God or 2) his friend does not fear God.

# But my brothers have been as faithful to me as a desert streambed

Job speaks of his friends being unfaithful to him as being like a "wadi" which is a stream that can suddenly dry up. Also, Job refers to his friends ironically here as his "brothers." AT: "But my friends are unfaithful to me. They are like a desert streambed" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-simile]] and [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-irony]])

# as channels of water that pass away to nothing

"like streams of water that dry up." Job continues speaking of his friends being unfaithful as if they were streams that dry up. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-simile]])

# which are darkened because of ice over them ... and because of the snow that hides itself in them

These two phrases have the same meaning. They describe how the streambed is full of ice and snow in the winter. AT: "which look dark in the winter because they are covered with ice and are full of melted snow" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-parallelism]] and [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-explicit]])

# because of the snow that hides itself in them

This speaks of the snow melting and the water going into the streambed as if the snow were hiding in the streambed. AT: "because the snow melts and goes into them" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-personification]])

# When they thaw out, they vanish ... when it is hot, they melt out of their place

These two phrases have the same meaning. They describe how the streambed dries up in the hot season. AT: "When it is hot, the ice melts and the streambeds dry up" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-parallelism]] and [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-explicit]])

# translationWords

* [[rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/faithful]]
* [[rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/forsaken]]
* [[rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/fear]]
* [[rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/almighty]]
* [[rc://en/tw/dict/bible/kt/brother]]
* [[rc://en/tw/dict/bible/other/desert]]
* [[rc://en/tw/dict/bible/other/water]]