129:6 May they be like the grass on the rooftops
which withers before one can even pull it up, 1
129:7 which cannot fill the reaper’s hand,
or the lap of the one who gathers the grain!
1 tn The Hebrew verb שָׁלַף (shalaf) normally means “to draw [a sword]” or “to pull.” BDB 1025 s.v. suggests the meaning “to shoot up” here, but it is more likely that the verb here means “to pluck; to pull up,” a nuance attested for this word in later Hebrew and Aramaic (see Jastrow 1587 s.v. שָׁלַף).