Job 8:11

11 "Reeds can't grow where there is no water; they are never found outside a swamp.

Job 8:11 Meaning and Commentary

Job 8:11

Can the rush grow up without mire?
&c.] No, at least not long, or so as to lift up his head on high, as the word signifies ^F1; the rush or bulrush, which seems to be meant, delights in watery places, and has its name in Hebrew from its absorbing or drinking up water; it grows in moist and watery clay, or in marshy places, which Jarchi says is the sense of the word here used; the Septuagint understands it of the "paper reed", which, as Pliny ^F2 observes, grows in the marshy places of Egypt, and by the still waters of the river Nile:

can the flag grow without water?
or "the sedge" ^F3; which usually grows in moist places, and on the banks of rivers; this unless in such places, or if without water, cannot grow long, or make any very large increase, or come to maturity; so some ^F4 render it, "if the rush should grow up without" then it would be with it as follows.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 (hagyh) "an attollit se", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius; "an superbiet", so some; Beza, Schultens.
F2 Nat. Hist. l. 13. c. 11.
F3 (wxa) "carectum", V. L. "ulva", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Schmidt, Michaelis, Schultens.
F4 Sic Bar Tzemach & Belgae.

Job 8:11 In-Context

9 Our life is short, we know nothing at all; we pass like shadows across the earth.

10 But let the ancient wise people teach you; listen to what they had to say:

11 "Reeds can't grow where there is no water; they are never found outside a swamp.

12 If the water dries up, they are the first to wither, while still too small to be cut and used.

13 Godless people are like those reeds; their hope is gone, once God is forgotten.