Job 8:12

12 While they are still flowering, not ready to be cut, they begin to wither more quickly than 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 But those who came before us will teach you. They will teach you the wisdom of old.

11 “Can papyrus reeds grow tall without a marsh? Can marsh grass flourish without water?

12 While they are still flowering, not ready to be cut, they begin to wither more quickly than grass.

13 The same happens to all who forget God. The hopes of the godless evaporate.

14 Their confidence hangs by a thread. They are leaning on a spider’s web.