His roots shall be dried up beneath. Above shall his branch be cut off.
Parallel translations
- KJV His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off.
- BSB The roots beneath him dry up, and the branches above him wither away.
- NKJV His roots are dried out below, And his branch withers above.
- NASB “His roots are dried below, And his branch withers above.
- NLT Their roots will dry up, and their branches will wither.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Bildad says the wicked man is like a tree with dried roots and severed branches, destroyed at every level. It pictures total, generational ruin.
Overview
Using a tree as a metaphor, Bildad portrays the wicked man cut off both below (roots) and above (branches), leaving no life or future. The image of a withered tree recurs in Scripture for the fate of the godless, in contrast to the flourishing tree of the righteous in Psalm 1. The lasting hope, fulfilled in Christ, is that those rooted in him bear fruit that endures (John 15:5-6).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Hos 9:16Ephraim is struck. Their root has dried up. They will bear no fruit. Even though they give birth, yet I will kill the beloved ones of their womb.”
- Isa 5:24Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust; because they have rejected the law of Yahweh of Armies, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
- Job 15:30He shall not depart out of darkness. The flame shall dry up his branches. By the breath of God’s mouth shall he go away.
- Amos 2:9Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.
- Mal 4:1“For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, will be stubble; and the day that comes will burn them up,” says Yahweh of Armies, “that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
- Job 29:19My root is spread out to the waters. The dew lies all night on my branch.
- Job 5:3–4I have seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his habitation.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 18:16 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.