His roots wrap around the rock heap; he looks for a home among the stones.
Parallel translations
- WEB His roots are wrapped around the rock pile. He sees the place of stones.
- KJV His roots are wrapped about the heap, and seeth the place of stones.
- NKJV His roots wrap around the rock heap, And look for a place in the stones.
- NASB “His roots wrap around a rock pile, He grasps a house of stones.
- NLT Its roots grow down through a pile of stones; it takes hold on a bed of rocks.
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 pictures the plant's roots entwining a heap of stones, finding a place among them. Its hold seems secure but is built on rock and rubble.
Overview
The thriving plant sends roots into a rocky pile, appearing firmly established. Yet roots clinging to stones lack deep soil and stable ground. Bildad uses this to suggest the godless person's apparent rootedness cannot survive being dislodged, reinforcing the fragility of life that forgets God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Job 18:16The roots beneath him dry up, and the branches above him wither away.
- Mark 11:20As they were walking back in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from its roots.
- Jer 12:1–2Righteous are You, O LORD, when I plead before You. Yet about Your judgments I wish to contend with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?
- 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 being uprooted.
- Isa 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 the instruction of the LORD of Hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
- Job 29:19My roots will spread out to the waters, and the dew will rest nightly on my branches.
- Isa 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 like stubble.
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 8:17 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.