Job 8:16-19

8:16 He is a well-watered plant ¹  in ²  the sun,

its shoots spread ³  over its garden. ⁴ 

8:17 It wraps its roots around a heap ⁵  of stones ⁶ 

and it looks ⁷  for a place among stones. ⁸ 

8:18 If he is uprooted ⁹  from his place,

then that place ¹⁰  will disown him, saying, ¹¹ 

‘I have never seen you!’

8:19 Indeed, this is the joy of his way, ¹² 

and out of the earth ¹³  others spring up. ¹⁴ 

Job 14:7-9

The Inevitability of Death

14:7 “But there is hope for ¹⁵  a tree: ¹⁶ 

If it is cut down, it will sprout again,

and its new shoots will not fail.

14:8 Although its roots may grow old ¹⁷  in the ground

and its stump begins to die ¹⁸  in the soil, ¹⁹ 

14:9 at the scent ²⁰  of water it will flourish ²¹ 

and put forth ²²  shoots like a new plant.

Job 18:16-17

18:16 Below his roots dry up,

and his branches wither above.

18:17 His memory perishes from the earth,

he has no name in the land. ²³ 

Psalms 52:5-8

52:5 Yet ²⁴  God will make you a permanent heap of ruins. ²⁵ 

He will scoop you up ²⁶  and remove you from your home; ²⁷ 

he will uproot you from the land of the living. (Selah)

52:6 When the godly see this, they will be filled with awe,

and will mock the evildoer, saying: ²⁸ 

52:7 “Look, here is the man who would not make ²⁹  God his protector!

He trusted in his great wealth

and was confident about his plans to destroy others.” ³⁰ 

52:8 But I ³¹  am like a flourishing ³²  olive tree in the house of God;

I continually ³³  trust in God’s loyal love.

Isaiah 27:11

27:11 When its branches get brittle, ³⁴  they break;

women come and use them for kindling. ³⁵ 

For these people lack understanding, ³⁶ 

therefore the one who made them has no compassion on them;

the one who formed them has no mercy on them.

Ezekiel 17:8-10

17:8 In a good field, by abundant waters, it was planted

to grow branches, bear fruit, and become a beautiful vine.

17:9 “‘Say to them: This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“‘Will it prosper?

Will he not rip out its roots

and cause its fruit to rot ³⁷  and wither?

All its foliage ³⁸  will wither.

No strong arm or large army

will be needed to pull it out by its roots. ³⁹ 

17:10 Consider! It is planted, but will it prosper?

Will it not wither completely when the east wind blows on it?

Will it not wither in the soil where it sprouted?’”

Hosea 9:16

9:16 Ephraim will be struck down ⁴⁰  –

their root will be dried up;

they will not yield any fruit.

Even if they do bear children,

I will kill their precious offspring.

Hosea 14:5-7

14:5 I will be like the dew to Israel;

he will blossom like a lily,

he will send down his roots like a cedar of ⁴¹  Lebanon.

14:6 His young shoots will grow;

his splendor will be like an olive tree,

his fragrance like a cedar of Lebanon.

14:7 People will reside again ⁴²  in his shade;

they will plant and harvest grain in abundance. ⁴³ 

They will blossom like a vine,

and his fame will be like the wine from Lebanon.

John 15:6

15:6 If anyone does not remain ⁴⁴  in me, he is thrown out like a branch, and dries up; and such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, ⁴⁵  and are burned up. ⁴⁶ 

[8:16]  ¹ tn The figure now changes to a plant that is flourishing and spreading and then suddenly cut off. The word רָטַב (ratav) means “to be moist; to be watered.” The word occurs in Arabic, Aramaic, and Akkadian, but only twice in the Bible: here as the adjective and in 24:8 as the verb.

[8:16]  ² tn The Hebrew is לִפְנֵי (lifne, “before”). Does this mean “in the presence of the sun,” i.e., under a sweltering sun, or “before” the sun rises? It seems more natural to take לִפְנֵי (lifne) as “in the presence of” or “under.”

[8:16]  ³ tn Heb “its shoot goes out.”

[8:16]  ⁴ tc Some have emended this phrase to obtain “over the roofs.” The LXX has “out of his corruption.” H. M. Orlinsky has shown that this reading arose from an internal LXX change, saprias having replaced prasias, “garden” (JQR 26 [1935/36]: 134-35).

[8:17]  ⁵ tn Cheyne reads “spring” or “well” rather than “heap.” However, this does not fit the parallelism very well, and so he emends the second half as well. Nevertheless the Hebrew text needs no emending here.

[8:17]  ⁶ tn The expression “of stones” is added for clarification of what the heap would be. It refers to the object around which the roots would grow. The parallelism with “house of stones” makes this reading highly probable.

[8:17]  ⁷ tn The idea is that the plant grows, looking for a place to grow among the stones. Some trees grow so tightly around the rocks and stones that they are impossible to uproot. The rocky ground where it grows forms “a house of stones.” The LXX supports an emendation from יְחֱזֶה (yÿkhezeh, “it looks”) to יִחְיֶה (yikhyeh, “it lives”). Others have tried to emend the text in a variety of ways: “pushes” (Budde), “cleave” (Gordis), “was opposite” (Driver), or “run against” (NEB, probably based on G. R. Driver). If one were to make a change, the reading with the LXX would be the easiest to defend, but there is no substantial reason to do that. The meaning is about the same without such a change.

[8:17]  ⁸ sn The idea seems to be that the stones around which the roots of the tree wrap themselves suggest strength and security for the tree, but uprooting comes to it nevertheless (v. 18). The point is that the wicked may appear to be living in security and flourishing, yet can be quickly destroyed (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 74).

[8:18]  ⁹ tc Ball reads אֵל (’el, “God”) instead of אִם (’im, “if”): “God destroys it” – but there is no reason for this. The idea would be implied in the context. A. B. Davidson rightly points out that who destroys it is not important, but the fact that it is destroyed.

[8:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “it”; the referent (“his place” in the preceding line) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:18]  ¹¹ tn Here “saying” is supplied in the translation.

[8:19]  ¹² tn This line is difficult. If the MT stands as it is, the expression must be ironic. It would be saying that the joy (all the security and prosperity) of its way (its life) is short-lived – that is the way its joy goes. Most commentators are not satisfied with this. Dhorme, for one, changes מְשׂוֹשׂ (mÿsos, “joy”) to מְסוֹס (mÿsos, “rotting”), and gets “behold him lie rotting on the path.” The sibilants can interchange this way. But Dhorme thinks the MT was written the way it was because the word was thought to be “joy,” when it should have been the other way. The word “way” then becomes an accusative of place. The suggestion is rather compelling and would certainly fit the context. The difficulty is that a root סוּס (sus, “to rot”) has to be proposed. E. Dhorme does this by drawing on Arabic sas, “to be eaten by moths or worms,” thus “worm-eaten; decaying; rotting.” Cf. NIV “its life withers away”; also NAB “there he lies rotting beside the road.”

[8:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “dust.”

[8:19]  ¹⁴ sn As with the tree, so with the godless man – his place will soon be taken by another.

[14:7]  ¹⁵ tn The genitive after the construct is one of advantage – it is hope for the tree.

[14:7]  ¹⁶ sn The figure now changes to a tree for the discussion of the finality of death. At least the tree will sprout again when it is cut down. Why, Job wonders, should what has been granted to the tree not also be granted to humans?

[14:8]  ¹⁷ tn The Hiphil of זָקַן (zaqan, “to be old”) is here an internal causative, “to grow old.”

[14:8]  ¹⁸ tn The Hiphil is here classified as an inchoative Hiphil (see GKC 145 §53.e), for the tree only begins to die. In other words, it appears to be dead, but actually is not completely dead.

[14:8]  ¹⁹ tn The LXX translates “dust” [soil] with “rock,” probably in light of the earlier illustration of the tree growing in the rocks.

[14:9]  ²⁰ tn The personification adds to the comparison with people – the tree is credited with the sense of smell to detect the water.

[14:9]  ²¹ tn The sense of “flourish” for this verb is found in Ps 92:12,13[13,14], and Prov 14:11. It makes an appropriate parallel with “bring forth boughs” in the second half.

[14:9]  ²² tn Heb “and will make.”

[18:17]  ²³ tn Heb “outside.” Cf. ESV, “in the street,” referring to absence from his community’s memory.

[52:5]  ²⁴ tn The adverb גַּם (gam, “also; even”) is translated here in an adversative sense (“yet”). It highlights the contrastive correspondence between the evildoer’s behavior and God’s response.

[52:5]  ²⁵ tn Heb “will tear you down forever.”

[52:5]  ²⁶ tn This rare verb (חָתָה, khatah) occurs only here and in Prov 6:27; 25:22; Isa 30:14.

[52:5]  ²⁷ tn Heb “from [your] tent.”

[52:6]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and the godly will see and will fear and at him will laugh.”

[52:7]  ²⁹ tn The imperfect verbal form here draws attention to the ongoing nature of the action. The evildoer customarily rejected God and trusted in his own abilities. Another option is to take the imperfect as generalizing, “[here is the man who] does not make.”

[52:7]  ³⁰ tn Heb “he was strong in his destruction.” “Destruction” must refer back to the destructive plans mentioned in v. 2. The verb (derived from the root עָזַז, ’azaz, “be strong”) as it stands is either an imperfect (if so, probably used in a customary sense) or a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive). However the form should probably be emended to וַיָּעָז (vayya’az), a Qal preterite (with vav [ו] consecutive) from עָזַז. Note the preterite form without vav (ו) consecutive in the preceding line (וַיִּבְטַח, vayyivtakh, “and he trusted”). The prefixed vav (ו) was likely omitted by haplography (note the suffixed vav [ו] on the preceding עָשְׁרוֹ, ’oshro, “his wealth”).

[52:8]  ³¹ tn The disjunctive construction (vav [ו] + subject) highlights the contrast between the evildoer’s destiny (vv. 5-7) and that of the godly psalmist’s security.

[52:8]  ³² tn Or “luxuriant, green, leafy.”

[52:8]  ³³ tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever and ever.”

[27:11]  ³⁴ tn Heb “are dry” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[27:11]  ³⁵ tn Heb “women come [and] light it.” The city is likened to a dead tree with dried up branches that is only good for firewood.

[27:11]  ³⁶ tn Heb “for not a people of understanding [is] he.”

[17:9]  ³⁷ tn The Hebrew root occurs only here in the OT and appears to have the meaning of “strip off.” In application to fruit the meaning may be “cause to rot.”

[17:9]  ³⁸ tn Heb “all the טַרְפֵּי (tarpey) of branches.” The word טַרְפֵּי occurs only here in the Bible; its precise meaning is uncertain.

[17:9]  ³⁹ tn Or “there will be no strong arm or large army when it is pulled up by the roots.”

[9:16]  ⁴⁰ tn Or perhaps, following the plant metaphor, “will be blighted” (NIV similar).

[14:5]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “like Lebanon” (so KJV; also in the following verse). The phrase “a cedar of” does not appear in the Hebrew text; it is supplied in translation for clarity. Cf. TEV “the trees of Lebanon”; NRSV “the forests of Lebanon.”

[14:7]  ⁴² tn Hosea uses the similar-sounding terms יָשֻׁבוּ יֹשְׁבֵי (yashuvu yoshve, “the dwellers will return”) to create a wordplay between the roots שׁוּב (shuv, “to return”) and יָשַׁב (yashav, “to dwell; to reside”).

[14:7]  ⁴³ tn Heb “they will cause the grain to live” or “they will revive the grain.” Some English versions treat this as a comparison: “they shall revive as the corn” (KJV); “will flourish like the grain” (NIV).

[15:6]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “reside.”

[15:6]  ⁴⁵ sn Such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire. The author does not tell who it is who does the gathering and throwing into the fire. Although some claim that realized eschatology is so prevalent in the Fourth Gospel that no references to final eschatology appear at all, the fate of these branches seems to point to the opposite. The imagery is almost certainly that of eschatological judgment, and recalls some of the OT vine imagery which involves divine rejection and judgment of disobedient Israel (Ezek 15:4-6, 19:12).

[15:6]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “they gather them up and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”