May they be like grass on the rooftops, which withers before it can grow,
Parallel translations
- WEB Let them be as the grass on the housetops, which withers before it grows up;
- KJV Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up:
- NKJV Let them be as the grass on the housetops, Which withers before it grows up,
- NASB May they be like grass upon the housetops, Which withers before it grows up;
- NLT May they be as useless as grass on a rooftop, turning yellow when only half grown,
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
May the enemies be like rooftop grass that withers before it grows. It pictures the wicked as fruitless and short-lived.
Overview
The psalm wishes the haters of Zion to resemble grass on flat rooftops, which sprouts in shallow soil only to dry up quickly. The image conveys the fleeting, fruitless end of those who oppose God. It echoes Scripture's broader teaching that the wicked perish while God's people endure in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Ps 37:2For they wither quickly like grass and wilt like tender plants.
- Isa 37:27Therefore their inhabitants, devoid of power, are dismayed and ashamed. They are like plants in the field, tender green shoots, grass on the rooftops, scorched before it is grown.
- Ps 92:7that though the wicked sprout like grass, and all evildoers flourish, they will be forever destroyed.
- Matt 13:6But when the sun rose, the seedlings were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.
- 2 Kgs 19:26Therefore their inhabitants, devoid of power, are dismayed and ashamed. They are like plants in the field, tender green shoots, grass on the rooftops, scorched before it is grown.
- Jer 17:5–6This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes the flesh his strength and turns his heart from the LORD.
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 129:6 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
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