Job 8:12

12 While it [is] in its flower [and] is not plucked, yet it withers {before} all grass.

Job 8:12 Meaning and Commentary

Job 8:12

Whilst it [is] yet in its greenness
Before it is come to its full height, or to a proper ripeness; when as yet it has not flowered, or is about it; before the time usual for it to turn and change; it being without moisture, water, or watery clay, will change;

[and] not cut down;
by the scythe, or cropped by the hand of man,

it withereth before any [other] herb;
of itself; rather sooner than such that do not require so much moisture; or in the sight and presence of them, they looking on as it were, and deriding it; a poetical representation, as Schultens observes: next follows the accommodation of these similes to wicked and hypocritical men.

Job 8:12 In-Context

10 Will they themselves not teach you [and] {tell you} and {utter} words from their heart?

11 Can papyrus grow tall where [there is] not a marsh? Will reeds flourish without water?

12 While it [is] in its flower [and] is not plucked, yet it withers {before} all grass.

13 So [are] the paths of all who forget God; and [the] hope of [the] godless will perish,

14 whose confidence is cut off and {whose trust} [is] a spider's house.

Footnotes

• [a] Hebrew "and"
• [b] Literally "to the faces of"