“Can the papyrus grow up without mire? Can the rushes grow without water?
Parallel translations
- KJV Can the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water?
- BSB Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Do reeds flourish without water?
- NKJV “Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh? Can the reeds flourish without water?
- NASB ¶“Can papyrus grow tall without a marsh? Can the rushes grow without water?
- NLT “Can papyrus reeds grow tall without a marsh? Can marsh grass flourish without water?
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 asks whether papyrus or reeds can grow without marsh or water. The proverb sets up his point that the godless cannot flourish apart from God.
Overview
Using natural imagery, Bildad observes that water-loving plants wither without their source. He applies this to argue that those who forget God lose their support and perish. The image is true to nature and to the deeper truth that life apart from God cannot endure, though Bildad misapplies it to Job.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 2
- Exod 2:3When she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus basket for him, and coated it with tar and with pitch. She put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank.
- Isa 19:5–7The waters will fail from the sea, and the river will be wasted and become dry.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 8:11 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.