Job 8:17
in Job 8His roots wrap around the rock heap; he looks for a home among the stones.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
His roots are wrapped about the stone-heap, He beholdeth the place of stones.
KJV
His roots are wrapped about the heap, and seeth the place of stones.
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This verse in Job 8
Commentary
9 notes on this verseHis roots will be wrapped about the heap of rocks, and he will dwell among the stones. For what do we understand by the name of 'roots' save the hidden thoughts, which issue forth out of sight, but rise up in the display of works in open day? as it is also said by the Prophet concerning the seed of the Word, And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward.
This site's exposition
He is a well-watered plant in the sunshine
on Job 8:16-19
A second portrait follows the spider's web, "a well-watered plant in the sunshine", thriving before it is torn out. The line "yet others will spring from the dust" fills the wicked man's place. Bildad implies Job's place stands ready to be filled or restored by his response.
This site's exposition
His roots wrap around the rock heap
Barnes reports wide disagreement over this line, with Jerome reading roots packed over a heap of stones and Walton reading them over a spring. Either way the plant has grown deep and seems settled. The next verse tears it out.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Second, confidence may be placed in the rush in other ways, i.e. either from being rooted bunched together with many others or from the firmness of the place where it grows when it is born in a rocky place. So he consequently says, "its roots," …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
); it grows in firm ground, not, as the rush, of mire and water. Thus does a wicked man, when he prospers in the world, think himself secure; his wealth is a high wall in his own conceit.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
This circumstance is added, to signify its firmness and strength, that it was not in loose and sandy ground, which a violent wind might overthrow, but in solid ground, within which were many stones, which its numerous and spreading roots embrace, folding and interweaving themselves about them.
His roots are wrapped about the heap,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
His roots are wrapped about the heap - There has been great diversity of opinion in the interpretation of this passage. Jerome renders it, “over the heap of stones his roots are condensed.” Walton, “super fontem - over a fountain.” The Septuagint, “he lies down (or sleeps, κοιμᾶται koimatai) on a heap of stones; and he lives in the midst of flint-stones.” According to some, the word rendered heap גל gal means a fountain; according to others, it means a heap or pile of stones; according to Dr. Good, it means a rock.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
seeth the place of stones--Hebrew, "the house of stones"; that is, the wall surrounding the garden. The parasite plant, in creeping towards and over the wall--the utmost bound of the garden--is said figuratively to "see" or regard it.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עַל־ | ʾal- | over | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| גַּ֭ל | gal | a heap | H1530 → | 34 times |
| שָֽׁרָשָׁ֣יו | sharashav | roots its | H8328 → | 33 times |
| יְסֻבָּ֑כוּ | yesubakhu | they are interwoven | H5440 → | |
| בֵּ֖ית | beit | between | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| אֲבָנִ֣ים | ʾavanim | stones | H68 → | 273 times |
| יֶחֱזֶֽה׃ | yechezeh | it sees | H2372 → | 55 times |
עַל־over
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
גַּ֭לa heap
galH1530 →34 times
שָֽׁרָשָׁ֣יוroots its
sharashavH8328 →33 times
יְסֻבָּ֑כוּthey are interwoven
yesubakhuH5440 →
בֵּ֖יתbetween
beitH1004 →2046 times
אֲבָנִ֣יםstones
ʾavanimH68 →273 times
יֶחֱזֶֽה׃it sees
yechezehH2372 →55 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
Jude 1:12These men are hidden reefs in your love feasts, shamelessly feasting with you but shepherding only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried along by the wind; fruitless trees in autumn, twice dead after…
it leads to
- Matthew 15:13
But Jesus replied, “Every plant that My heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by its roots.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 2 Peter 2:17–20
These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.
- Ezekiel 34:8
‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, because My flock lacks a shepherd and has become prey and food for every wild beast, and because My shepherds did not search for My…
- Ephesians 4:14
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming.
- Proverbs 25:14
Like clouds and wind without rain is the man who boasts of gifts never given.
- Matthew 15:13
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
- Isaiah 30:12
Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says: “Because you have rejected this message, trusting in oppression and relying on deceit,
- Job 18:16
The roots beneath him dry up, and the branches above him wither away.
- Isaiah 30:12
Through
Isaiah 40:24No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner have their stems taken root in the ground, than He blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away…
it leads to
- Isaiah 41:16
You will winnow them, and a wind will carry them away; a gale will scatter them. But you will rejoice in the LORD; you will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
- Isaiah 41:16
About Job
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on 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); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; 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); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.