New Living Translation
Job 8:16
16The godless seem like a lush plant growing in the sunshine, its branches spreading across the garden.
Job 8:16 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)He is green before the sun, and his branch shooteth forth in his garden.
- New International Version (NIV)They are like a well-watered plant in the sunshine, spreading its shoots over the garden;
- English Standard Version (ESV)He is a lush plant before the sun, and his shoots spread over his garden.
- New King James Version (NKJV)He grows green in the sun, And his branches spread out in his garden.
Context of Job 8:16
14Their confidence hangs by a thread. They are leaning on a spider’s web. 15They cling to their home for security, but it won’t last. They try to hold it tight, but it will not endure. The godless seem like a lush plant growing in the sunshine, its branches spreading across the garden. 17Its roots grow down through a pile of stones; it takes hold on a bed of rocks. 18But when it is uprooted, it’s as though it never existed!
Read all of Job 8Job 8:16 word by word
רָטֹ֣ב ה֭וּא לִפְנֵי־שָׁ֑מֶשׁ וְעַ֥ל גַּ֝נָּת֗וֹ יֹֽנַקְתּ֥וֹ תֵצֵֽא׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 8:16
- Job 21:7“Why do the wicked prosper, growing old and powerful?
- Psalms 37:35I have seen wicked and ruthless people flourishing like a tree in its native soil.
- Psalms 73:3For I envied the proud when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness.
- Job 5:3I have seen that fools may be successful for the moment, but then comes sudden disaster.
Commentaries on Job 8:16
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 16He is green before the sun - This is another metaphor. The wicked is represented as a luxuriant plant, in a good soil, with all the advantages of a good situation; well exposed to the sun; the roots intervolving themselves with stones, so as to render the tree more stable; but suddenly a blast comes, and the tree begins to die. The sudden fading of its leaves, etc., shows that its root is become as rottenness, and its vegetable life destroyed. I have…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 16He is green before the sun - Vulgate, “antequam veniat sol - before the sun comes.” So the Chaldee, “before the rising of the sun.” So Eichhorn renders it. According to this, which is probably the true interpretation, the passage means that he is green and flourishing before the sun rises, but that he cannot hear its heat and withers away. A new illustration is here introduced, and the object is to compare the hypocrite with a vigorous plant that grows up…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 8-19Verses 8-19 Bildad discourses well of hypocrites and evil-doers, and the fatal end of all their hopes and joys. He proves this truth of the destruction of the hopes and joys of hypocrites, by an appeal to former times. Bildad refers to the testimony of the ancients. Those teach best that utter words out of their heart, that speak from an experience of spiritual and divine things. A rush growing in fenny ground, looking very green, but withering in dry…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 16-17In this symbolic story, a plant spreads its shoots over the garden. The roots wrap around the rock heap, giving the plant stability.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1616. before the sun--that is, he (the godless) is green only before the sun rises; but he cannot bear its heat, and withers. So succulent plants like the gourd (Jon 4:7, 8). But the widespreading in the garden does not quite accord with this. Better, "in sunshine"; the sun representing the smiling fortune of the hypocrite, during which he wondrously progresses [Umbreit]. The image is that of weeds growing in rank luxuriance and spreading over even heaps of…Read the comment
Topics related to Job 8:16
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 8
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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