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American Standard Version

Job 8:12

Whilst it is yet in its greenness, and not cut down, It withereth before any other herb.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Forgetting God;   Godlessness;   The Topic Concordance - Bearing Fruit;   Endurance;   Forgetting;   Hope;   Hypocrisy;   Perishing;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Forgetting God;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Bildad;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Greatness of God;   Hypocrisy;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Leek;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Job, the Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Sirach;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Leek;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Bildad;   Job, Book of;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
While still uncut shoots,they would dry up quicker than any other plant.
Hebrew Names Version
While it is yet in its greenness, not cut down, It withers before any other reed.
King James Version
Whilst it is yet in his greenness, and not cut down, it withereth before any other herb.
English Standard Version
While yet in flower and not cut down, they wither before any other plant.
New Century Version
While they are still growing and not yet cut, they will dry up quicker than grass.
New English Translation
While they are still beginning to flower and not ripe for cutting, they can wither away faster than any grass!
Amplified Bible
"While it is still green (in flower) and not cut down, Yet it withers before any other plant [when without water].
New American Standard Bible
"While it is still green and not cut down, Yet it withers before any other plant.
World English Bible
While it is yet in its greenness, not cut down, It withers before any other reed.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Though it were in greene and not cutte downe, yet shall it wither before any other herbe.
Legacy Standard Bible
While it is still green and not cut down,Yet it dries up before any other plant.
Berean Standard Bible
While the shoots are still uncut, they dry up quicker than grass.
Contemporary English Version
and if the water dries up, they die sooner than grass.
Complete Jewish Bible
While still green, before being cut down, it dries up faster than any other plant.
Darby Translation
Whilst it is yet in its greenness [and] not cut down, it withereth before any [other] grass.
Easy-to-Read Version
No, they will dry up before harvest. They will be too small to cut and use.
George Lamsa Translation
While they are yet in their greenness, and not cut down, they wither before any other herb.
Good News Translation
If the water dries up, they are the first to wither, while still too small to be cut and used.
Lexham English Bible
While it is in its flower and is not plucked, yet it withers before all grass.
Literal Translation
While it is yet in its greenness, and not cut down, it dries out before every plant.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
No: but (or euer it be shot forth, and or euer it be gathered) it wythereth, before eny other herbe.
Bible in Basic English
When it is still green, without being cut down, it becomes dry and dead before any other plant.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Whilst it is yet in its greenness, and not cut down, it withereth before any other herb.
King James Version (1611)
Whilest it is yet in his greennesse, and not cut downe, it withereth before any other herbe.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
No, but whilste it is nowe in his greennesse, though it be not cut downe, yet withereth it before any other hearbe:
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
When it is yet on the root, and though it has not been cut down, does not any herb wither before it has received moisture?
English Revised Version
Whilst it is yet in its greenness, and not cut down, it withereth before any other herb.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Whanne it is yit in the flour, nethir is takun with hond, it wexeth drie bifor alle erbis.
Update Bible Version
While it is yet in its greenness, [and] not cut down, It withers before any [other] herb.
Webster's Bible Translation
Whilst it [is] yet in its greenness, [and] not cut down, it withereth before any [other] herb.
New King James Version
While it is yet green and not cut down, It withers before any other plant.
New Living Translation
While they are still flowering, not ready to be cut, they begin to wither more quickly than grass.
New Life Bible
While it is still green and not cut, it becomes dry and dead before any other plant.
New Revised Standard
While yet in flower and not cut down, they wither before any other plant.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Though while still, in its freshness, it be not plucked off, yet, before any kind of grass, it doth wither:
Douay-Rheims Bible
When it is yet in flower, and is not plucked u with the hand, it withereth before all herbs.
Revised Standard Version
While yet in flower and not cut down, they wither before any other plant.
Young's Literal Translation
While it [is] in its budding -- uncropt, Even before any herb it withereth.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"While it is still green and not cut down, Yet it withers before any other plant.

Contextual Overview

8 For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, And apply thyself to that which their fathers have searched out 9 (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, Because our days upon earth are a shadow); 10 Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, And utter words out of their heart? 11 Can the rush grow up without mire? Can the flag grow without water? 12 Whilst it is yet in its greenness, and not cut down, It withereth before any other herb. 13 So are the paths of all that forget God; And the hope of the godless man shall perish: 14 Whose confidence shall break in sunder, And whose trust is a spider's web. 15 He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: He shall hold fast thereby, but it shall not endure. 16 He is green before the sun, And his shoots go forth over his garden. 17 His roots are wrapped about the stone-heap, He beholdeth the place of stones.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Psalms 129:6, Psalms 129:7, Jeremiah 17:6, Matthew 13:20, James 1:10, James 1:11, 1 Peter 1:24

Reciprocal: Esther 5:12 - to morrow

Cross-References

Genesis 8:2
the fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;
Genesis 8:3
and the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of a hundred and fifty days the waters decreased.
Genesis 8:5
And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.
Genesis 8:6
And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:
Genesis 8:7
and he sent forth a raven, and it went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
Genesis 8:8
And he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;
Genesis 8:10
And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;
Psalms 27:14
Wait for Jehovah: Be strong, and let thy heart take courage; Yea, wait thou for Jehovah.
Isaiah 8:17
And I will wait for Jehovah, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.
Isaiah 25:9
And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is Jehovah; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Whilst it is yet in his greenness - That is, while it seems to be in its vigor.

And is not cut down - Even when it is not cut down. If suffered to stand by itself, and if undisturbed, it will wither away. The application of this is obvious and beautiful. Such plants have no self sustaining power. They are dependent on moisture for their support. If that is withheld, they droop and die. So with the prosperous sinner and the hypocrite. His piety, compared with that which is genuine, is like the spongy texture of the paper-reed compared with the solid oak. He is sustained in his professed religion by outward prosperity, as the rush is nourished by moisture; and the moment his prosperity is withdrawn, his religion droops and dies like the flag without water.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 8:12. Whilst it is yet in his greenness — We do not know enough of the natural history of this plant to be able to discern the strength of this allusion; but we learn from it that, although this plant be very succulent, and grow to a great size, yet it is short-lived, and speedily withers; and this we may suppose to be in the dry season, or on the retreat of the waters of the Nile. However, Soon RIPE, soon ROTTEN, is a maxim in horticulture.


 
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