Its roots grow down through a pile of stones; it takes hold on a bed of rocks.
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.
- BSB His roots wrap around the rock heap; he looks for a home among the 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.
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 18:16His roots shall be dried up beneath. Above shall his branch be cut off.
- Mark 11:20As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away from the roots.
- Jer 12:1–2You are righteous, Yahweh, when I contend with you; yet I would reason the cause with you: why does the way of the wicked prosper? why are all they at ease who deal very treacherously?
- Jude 1:12These are hidden rocky reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you, shepherds who without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
- 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 29:19My root is spread out to the waters. The dew lies all night on my branch.
- Isa 40:24They are planted scarcely. They are sown scarcely. Their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground. He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the whirlwind takes them away as 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.