Job 8:12
in Job 8While the shoots are still uncut, they dry up quicker than grass.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Whilst it is yet in its greenness, and not cut down, It withereth before any other herb.
KJV
Whilst it is yet in his greenness, and not cut down, it withereth before any other herb.
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This verse in Job 8
Commentary
13 notes on this verseWhilst it is yet in his greenness, and not cut down, it withereth before any other herb. So are the paths of all that forget God, and the hypocrite's hope shall perish. Now it is well added, Whilst it is yet in his flower, nor plucked with the hand, it withereth before any other herb. 'The rush in his flower' is the hypocrite in esteem. Now the rush springing up with sharp edges is not plucked with the hand, in that the hypocrite, having his feelings sharpened by presumption, disdains to be rebuked for his wickedness.
This site's exposition
Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh
on Job 8:11-15
The poem on the wicked opens with papyrus, plants that flourish only where water stands and "dry up quicker than grass" once it is gone. The line "his security is in a spider’s web" names a structure built to look secure and unable to bear weight.
This site's exposition
they dry up quicker than grass
Clarke notes that papyrus grows tall and full of water and still dries up quickly once the marsh is gone. Henry applies it as Bildad meant it, to the godless man whose best days already border on withering. The shoots dry up while still uncut.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Previously Bildad said that the teaching is passed on from the ancestors and fathers to the following generations. Now he supports this with an example. He says, "As papyrus does not prosper without water and reeds do not grow if they are not watered … …
The Medieval Church1 voice
He shows that the rush requires moisture and sedge-bed requires water because they dry out easily by the mere removal of the marsh or water, when there is no other cause of their dehydration. But there is a twofold cause of dehydration in plants things …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Whilst it is yet in its greenness,....
He grounds it on his worldly prosperity, the plausible profession he makes of religion, the good opinion of his neighbours, and his own good conceit of himself, which are no solid foundation on which to build his confidence. It is all but mire and water; and the hope that grows out of it is but rush and flag.
Even while it is in its greenness it is dried away and gone in a little time. Note, The best state of hypocrites and evil-doers borders upon withering; even when it is green it is going.
5 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century5 voices
Whilst it is yet in his greenness - We do not know enough of the natural history of this plant to be able to discern the strength of this allusion; but we learn from it that, although this plant be very succulent, and grow to a great size, yet it is short-lived, and speedily withers; and this we may suppose to be in the dry season, or on the retreat of the waters of the Nile. However, Soon Ripe, soon Rotten, is a maxim in horticulture.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
not cut down--Before it has ripened for the scythe, it withers more suddenly than any herb, having no self-sustaining power, once that the moisture is gone, which other herbs do not need in the same degree.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
ISAAC walked in the fields at eventide to meditate. I commend him for his occupation. Meditation is exceedingly profitable to the mind. If we talked less, read less, and meditated more we should be wiser men. I commend him for the season which he chose for that occupation—at eventide—when the business of the day was over and the general stillness of nature was in harmony with the quiet of his soul. I also commend him for the place which he selected—the wide expanse of nature—the field. Wise men can readily find a thousand subjects for contemplation abroad in the open country. Our four-square room is not very suggestive. But when a man walks in the fields, having the Lord in his heart and his whole mental faculties directed towards heavenly things, all things aid him in his pleasing occupation. If we look above to the sun, moon and stars, all these remind us of the grandeur of God and make us ask ourselves, "What is man, that the Lord should be mindful of him, or the son of man, that Jehovah should visit him?" If we look below, the green meadows, or golden cornfields all proclaim Divine care and bounty. There is not a bird that sings, nor a grasshopper that chirps in the grass which does not urge us to praise and magnify the name of the Most High—while the plants, from the hyssop on the wall to the cedar which spreads its boughs so gloriously on Lebanon— exhibit to observant eyes the wisdom of the great Creator of all things. The murmuring brook talks to the listening ear in hallowed whispers of Him whose cloudy Throne supplies its stream. And the air, as it sighs amid the trees, tells in mysterious accents of the great unseen but ever-active Spirit of the living God. The great book of Nature only needs to be turned over by a reverent hand and to be read by an attentive eye to be found to be only second in teaching to the Book of Revelation.
ISAAC walked in the fields at eventide to meditate. I commend him for his occupation. Meditation is exceedingly profitable to the mind. If we talked less, read less, and meditated more we should be wiser men. I commend him for the season which he chose for that occupation—at eventide—when the business of the day was over and the general stillness of nature was in harmony with the quiet of his soul. I also commend him for the place which he selected—the wide expanse of nature—the field.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Whilst it is yet in his greenness - That is, while it seems to be in its vigor. And is not cut down - Even when it is not cut down. If suffered to stand by itself, and if undisturbed, it will wither away. The application of this is obvious and beautiful. Such plants have no self sustaining power. They are dependent on moisture for their support. If that is withheld, they droop and die. So with the prosperous sinner and the hypocrite. His piety, compared with that which is genuine, is like the spongy texture of the paper-reed compared with the solid oak. He is sustained in his professed religion by outward prosperity, as the rush is nourished by moisture; and the moment his prosperity is withdrawn, his religion droops and dies like the flag without water.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Can papyrus shoot up They will say this: Papyrus cannot grow except when the marsh is wet with its water and its moisture. בִצָה is marese in Old French, a marsh.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
So are the ways of all those who forget God to prosper when it goes well with him until his measure [of sin] is full.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עֹדֶ֣נּוּ | ʾodenu | still it | H5750 → | 490 times |
| בְ֭אִבּוֹ | veibo | [is] in greenness its | H3 → | |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יִקָּטֵ֑ף | yikatef | it is plucked off | H6998 → | |
| וְלִפְנֵ֖י | velifnei | and <to> before | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| כָל־ | khol- | any | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| חָצִ֣יר | chatzir | herbage | H2682 → | |
| יִיבָֽשׁ׃ | yivash | it is dried up | H3001 → | 59 times |
עֹדֶ֣נּוּstill it
ʾodenuH5750 →490 times
בְ֭אִבּוֹ[is] in greenness its
veiboH3 →
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
יִקָּטֵ֑ףit is plucked off
yikatefH6998 →
וְלִפְנֵ֖יand <to> before
velifneiH6440 →2123 times
כָל־any
khol-H3605 →5413 times
חָצִ֣ירherbage
chatzirH2682 →
יִיבָֽשׁ׃it is dried up
yivashH3001 →59 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
1 Peter 1:24For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,
it leads to
- Isaiah 40:6–8
A voice says, “Cry out!” And I asked, “What should I cry out?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field.
- Psalms 103:15
As for man, his days are like grass— he blooms like a flower of the field;
- James 4:14
You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
- James 1:10–11
But the one who is rich should exult in his low position, because he will pass away like a flower of the field.
- Psalms 37:2
For they wither quickly like grass and wilt like tender plants.
- Isaiah 40:6–8
Through
Matthew 13:20The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and at once receives it with joy.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 33:31–32
So My people come to you as usual, sit before you, and hear your words; but they do not put them into practice. Although they express love with their mouths, their hearts pursue dishonest…
- Psalms 106:12–13
Then they believed His promises and sang His praise.
- John 5:35
John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you were willing for a season to bask in his light.
- Ezekiel 33:31–32
About Job
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 651: “A Sermon From A Rush” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON JOB 8:11-12; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book VIII; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.