Job 18:16
in Job 18The roots beneath him dry up, and the branches above him wither away.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
His roots shall be dried up beneath, And above shall his branch be cut off.
KJV
His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off.
⋯
This verse in Job 18
Commentary
10 notes on this verseLet his roots be dried up beneath, and above let his crop be spoiled. For what do we understand by the title of 'roots,' which are set out of sight, and bring forth a shoot into open view, but the thoughts, which, while they are not seen in the heart, produce visible works? And hence by the title of a 'crop' there is denoted the same visible practice, which is thus produced from a hidden root.
This site's exposition
Fire resides in his tent
on Job 18:15-19
In "burning sulfur rains down on his dwelling" Bildad recalls the judgment on Sodom. With "he has no name in the land" the ruin passes beyond death into the loss of all memory of him. Then "He has no offspring or posterity among his people" erases his whole line.
This site's exposition
The roots beneath him dry up
Roots beneath and branches above take in the whole tree, and Barnes suggests the branches are the wicked man's children. The same figure appears at 15:30. Clarke sees self, posterity and property wither together.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
These words mean that the punishment of the impious will be similar to the massacre of the Sodomites. "Their roots dry beneath, and their branches wither above" so that nothing useful to the impious may remain anywhere, beneath or above the ground.
The Medieval Church1 voice
When a man has died, frequently everything which was his goes to ruin. He shows this is a consequence beginning first with those things produced from the earth, some of which have been planted still remain as seedlings after he dies. Expressing this he says, …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
In this he seems, all along, to have an eye to Job's complaints of the miserable condition he was in, that he was in the dark, bewildered, ensnared, terrified, and hastening out of the world. "This," says Bildad, "is the condition of a wicked man; and therefore thou art one." Second Address of Eliphaz.
Those who take root in the earth may expect it will thus be dried up; but, if we be rooted in Christ, even our leaf shall not wither, much less shall our branch be cut off. Those who consult the true honour of their family, and the welfare of its branches, will be afraid of withering it by sin. The extirpation of the sinner's family is mentioned again (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
His roots shall be dried up beneath,....
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
His roots shall be dried up - his branch be cut off - He shall be as utterly destroyed, both in himself, his posterity, and his property, as a tree is whose branches are all lopped off, and whose every root is cut away.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
His roots shall be dried up - Another image of complete desolation - where he is compared to a tree that is dead - a figure whose meaning is obvious, and which often occurs; see Job 15:30, note; Job 8:12-13, notes. Above his branch - Perhaps referring to his children or family. All shall be swept away - an allusion which Job could not well hesitate to apply to himself.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מִ֭תַּחַת | mitachat | <from> beneath | H8478 → | 505 times |
| שָֽׁרָשָׁ֣יו | sharashav | roots his | H8328 → | 33 times |
| יִבָ֑שׁוּ | yivashu | they are dried up | H3001 → | 59 times |
| וּ֝מִמַּ֗עַל | umimaal | and <from> above | H4605 → | 140 times |
| יִמַּ֥ל | yimal | it withers | H5243 → | 4 times |
| קְצִירֽוֹ׃ | ketziro | branch[es] his | H7105 → | 54 times |
מִ֭תַּחַת<from> beneath
mitachatH8478 →505 times
שָֽׁרָשָׁ֣יוroots his
sharashavH8328 →33 times
יִבָ֑שׁוּthey are dried up
yivashuH3001 →59 times
וּ֝מִמַּ֗עַלand <from> above
umimaalH4605 →140 times
יִמַּ֥לit withers
yimalH5243 →4 times
קְצִירֽוֹ׃branch[es] his
ketziroH7105 →54 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Malachi 4:1“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble; the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of…
it leads to
- Isaiah 47:14
Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. There will be no coals to warm them or fire to sit beside.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 5:24
Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw, and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will decay and their blossoms will blow away like dust; for they have rejected…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 2 Thessalonians 1:8
in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
- 2 Peter 3:7
And by that same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
- Malachi 3:2
But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire, like a launderer’s soap.
- Isaiah 47:14
Through
Hosea 9:16Ephraim is struck down; their root is withered; they cannot bear fruit. Even if they bear children, I will slay the darlings of their wombs.
it leads to
- Hosea 9:11–13
Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird, with no birth, no pregnancy, and no conception.
- Hosea 9:11–13
Through
Isaiah 5:24Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw, and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will decay and their blossoms will blow away like dust; for they have rejected…
it leads to
- Joel 2:5
With a sound like that of chariots they bound over the mountaintops, like the crackling of fire consuming stubble, like a mighty army deployed for battle.
- Luke 3:17
His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
- Joel 2:5
About Job
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON JOB 18:15-16; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XIV; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.