Job 8:11-19

11Some plants only grow tall in wet ground. Reeds only grow well where there is water.

12If the water is no longer there, they will quickly die. They will die before they are ready for people to cut them. They become useless more quickly than grass.

13People who turn away from God are like those plants. Their hope quickly disappears.

14They trust in useless things to help them. Those things are as weak as a spider's web.

15If they expect something like that to help them, it will fall down and leave them. If they take hold of it, it will not keep them safe.

16People who turn away from God are like weeds. When there is plenty of water and the sun shines on them, they grow all over the garden.

17Their roots grow around a heap of stones. They have a strong home among the rocks.

18But finally, someone pulls those weeds out of the ground. When that happens, nobody knows that the weeds were ever there.

19People who are like weeds only have that kind of joy. When they disappear, other weeds grow in their place.