Job 6:14

The most probable sense of the verse is this:

Kindness from his friend is due to him that is despairing,

To him that is forsaking the fear of the Almighty.

The sense of the second clause proposed by some, else he will forsake the fear, is good in itself, but the language hardly admits it. The word "kindness" has the sense of reproach, Proverbs 14:34 (the verb, Proverbs 25:10, put to shame), and some adopt this sense here: if reproach from his friend fall upon him that is despairing, he will forsake the fear, &c. The word, however, is not used elsewhere in the Book of Job in this sense, and the interpretation destroys the strong antithesis between this verse and the opening words of the next, my brethren, &c.