Psalms 129:6-7

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!

Jeremiah 17:6

17:6 They will be like a shrub ²  in the desert.

They will not experience good things even when they happen.

It will be as though they were growing in the desert,

in a salt land where no one can live.

Matthew 13:20

13:20 The ³  seed sown on rocky ground ⁴  is the person who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.

James 1:10-11

1:10 But the rich person’s pride should be in his humiliation, because he will pass away like a wildflower in the meadow. ⁵  1:11 For the sun rises with its heat and dries up the meadow; the petal of the flower falls off and its beauty is lost forever. ⁶  So also the rich person in the midst of his pursuits will wither away.

James 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From James, ⁷  a slave ⁸  of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes dispersed abroad. ⁹  Greetings!

James 1:24

1:24 For he gazes at himself and then goes out and immediately forgets ¹⁰  what sort of person he was.

[129:6]  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).

[17:6]  ² tn This word occurs only here and in Jer 48:6. It has been identified as a kind of juniper, which is a short shrub with minute leaves that look like scales. For a picture and more discussion see Fauna and Flora of the Bible, 131.

[13:20]  ³ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[13:20]  ⁴ tn Grk “The one sown on rocky ground, this is the one.” The next two statements like this one have this same syntactical structure.

[1:10]  ⁵ tn Grk “a flower of grass.”

[1:11]  ⁶ tn Or “perishes,” “is destroyed.”

[1:1]  ⁷ tn Grk “James.” The word “From” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:1]  ⁸ tn Traditionally, “servant” or “bondservant.” Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[1:1]  ⁹ tn Grk “to the twelve tribes in the Diaspora.” The Greek term διασπορά (diaspora, “dispersion”) refers to Jews not living in Palestine but “dispersed” or scattered among the Gentiles.

[1:24]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “and he has gone out and immediately has forgotten.”