Job 8:11
New International Version
Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh? Can reeds thrive without water?

New Living Translation
“Can papyrus reeds grow tall without a marsh? Can marsh grass flourish without water?

English Standard Version
“Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Can reeds flourish where there is no water?

Berean Standard Bible
Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Do reeds flourish without water?

King James Bible
Can the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water?

New King James Version
“Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh? Can the reeds flourish without water?

New American Standard Bible
“Can papyrus grow tall without a marsh? Can the rushes grow without water?

NASB 1995
“Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh? Can the rushes grow without water?

NASB 1977
“Can the papyrus grow up without marsh? Can the rushes grow without water?

Legacy Standard Bible
“Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh? Can the rushes grow without water?

Amplified Bible
“Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh? Can the rushes or reed grass grow without water?

Christian Standard Bible
Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Do reeds flourish without water?

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Do reeds flourish without water?

American Standard Version
Can the rush grow up without mire? Can the flag grow without water?

Contemporary English Version
Papyrus reeds grow healthy only in a swamp,

English Revised Version
Can the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water?

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"Can papyrus grow up where there is no swamp? Can rushes grow tall without water?

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

International Standard Version
"Can papyrus grow where there's no marsh? Can reeds flourish without water?

Majority Standard Bible
Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Do reeds flourish without water?

NET Bible
Can the papyrus plant grow tall where there is no marsh? Can reeds flourish without water?

New Heart English Bible
"Can the papyrus grow up without mire? Can the rushes grow without water?

Webster's Bible Translation
Can the rush grow without mire? can the flag grow without water?

World English Bible
“Can the papyrus grow up without mire? Can the rushes grow without water?
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
Does a rush rise without a marsh? A reed increase without water?

Young's Literal Translation
'Doth a rush wise without mire? A reed increase without water?

Smith's Literal Translation
Shall the bulrush lift itself up without a marsh? shall the marsh grass grow without water?
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
Can the rush be green without moisture? or a sedge-bush grow without water?

Catholic Public Domain Version
Can the marsh plant live without moisture? Or can sedges grow without water?

New American Bible
Can the papyrus grow up without mire? Can the reed grass flourish without water?

New Revised Standard Version
“Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Can reeds flourish where there is no water?
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
Can papyrus grow in a thirsty land? Can reeds grow where there is no water?

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
“Does a reed grow in a thirsty place or papyrus reed spring up where there is no water?
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
Can the rush shoot up without mire? Can the reed-grass grow without water?

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Does the rush flourish without water, or shall the flag grow up without moisture?

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Bildad: Job Should Repent
10Will they not teach you and tell you, and speak from their understanding? 11Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Do reeds flourish without water? 12While the shoots are still uncut, they dry up quicker than grass.…

Cross References
Psalm 1:3
He is like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in all he does.

Jeremiah 17:8
He is like a tree planted by the waters that sends out its roots toward the stream. It does not fear when the heat comes, and its leaves are always green. It does not worry in a year of drought, nor does it cease to produce fruit.

Matthew 13:6
But when the sun rose, the seedlings were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.

Mark 4:6
But when the sun rose, the seedlings were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.

Luke 8:6
Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the seedlings withered because they had no moisture.

Isaiah 40:7-8
The grass withers and the flowers fall when the breath of the LORD blows on them; indeed, the people are grass. / The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”

James 1:11
For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its flower falls and its beauty is lost. So too, the rich man will fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

Psalm 92:12-14
The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. / Planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God. / In old age they will still bear fruit; healthy and green they will remain,

Ezekiel 17:9-10
So you are to tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Will it flourish? Will it not be uprooted and stripped of its fruit so that it shrivels? All its foliage will wither! It will not take a strong arm or many people to pull it up by its roots. / Even if it is transplanted, will it flourish? Will it not completely wither when the east wind strikes? It will wither on the bed where it sprouted.’”

Hosea 13:15
Although he flourishes among his brothers, an east wind will come—a wind from the LORD rising up from the desert. His fountain will fail, and his spring will run dry. The wind will plunder his treasury of every precious article.

Matthew 6:30
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

Luke 12:28
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith!

Isaiah 5:24
Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw, and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will decay and their blossoms will blow away like dust; for they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of Hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

Isaiah 37:27
Therefore their inhabitants, devoid of power, are dismayed and ashamed. They are like plants in the field, tender green shoots, grass on the rooftops, scorched before it is grown.

Psalm 129:6
May they be like grass on the rooftops, which withers before it can grow,


Treasury of Scripture

Can the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water?

the rush.

Exodus 2:3
And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.

Isaiah 19:5-7
And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up…

Jump to Previous
Earth Flag Flourish Grass Grow Increase Marsh Mire Papyrus Pride Reed Reed-Grass Reeds Rush Rushes Shoot Tall Thrive Water Wet Wise
Jump to Next
Earth Flag Flourish Grass Grow Increase Marsh Mire Papyrus Pride Reed Reed-Grass Reeds Rush Rushes Shoot Tall Thrive Water Wet Wise
Job 8
1. Bildad shows God's justice in dealing with men according to their works.
8. He alleges antiquity to prove the certain destruction of the hypocrite.
20. He applies God's just dealing to Job.














Does papyrus grow
The imagery of papyrus is significant in the ancient Near Eastern context. Papyrus, a plant commonly found in marshy areas, was essential for making paper in ancient Egypt. The Hebrew word for papyrus, "גֹּמֶא" (gome), suggests a plant that thrives in specific conditions. This rhetorical question implies that just as papyrus cannot grow without the necessary environment, so too do humans require certain conditions to thrive spiritually and morally. The papyrus symbolizes the fragility and dependency of human life on divine sustenance.

where there is no marsh?
The marsh, or "בִּצָּה" (bitzah) in Hebrew, refers to a wetland area that provides the necessary nutrients and water for papyrus to grow. In the biblical context, marshes were seen as places of life and abundance. Bildad, the speaker in this verse, uses this imagery to illustrate the futility of expecting prosperity without righteousness. The marsh represents the spiritual and moral foundation required for a flourishing life, emphasizing the need for a relationship with God as the source of true sustenance.

Do reeds flourish
Reeds, like papyrus, are plants that depend on water-rich environments. The Hebrew word "אָחוּ" (achu) for reeds indicates a plant that is both delicate and resilient, thriving in the right conditions. The flourishing of reeds is a metaphor for prosperity and success. Bildad's question suggests that just as reeds cannot flourish without water, so too can humans not prosper without God's favor and guidance. This highlights the importance of aligning one's life with divine principles to experience true flourishing.

without water?
Water, "מַיִם" (mayim) in Hebrew, is a symbol of life, purity, and divine blessing throughout the Bible. In the arid climate of the ancient Near East, water was a precious and life-sustaining resource. The absence of water signifies barrenness and desolation. Bildad's rhetorical question underscores the necessity of God's presence and blessing for spiritual and material prosperity. Water, in this context, represents the essential grace and provision of God, without which life cannot thrive.

(11) The flag is the plant of Genesis 41:2, which the cattle feed upon. This figure is enforced by a second, that, namely, of the spider's web, the most fragile and transient of tenements.

Verse 11 - Can the rush grow up without mire? The word translated "rush" (גמא) is that which occurs also in Exodus if. 3: Isaiah 18:2 and Isaiah 35:7, as designating a plant common in Egypt, and which is only found in these four places. It is generally admitted that the "papyrus" is meant "a plant of the Cyperaceae or sedge family, which was formerly common in Egypt" (Hooker, in Smith's 'Dict. of the Bible,' vol. 3. p. 1019). The chief peculiarity of the papyrus is its triangular stem, which rises to the height of six or seven, sometimes even of thirteen or fourteen, feet, and terminates in a bunch of thread-like flowering branchlets. The pith of these stems was the material of which the ancient Egyptians made their paper. The papyrus is a water-plant, and needs an abundant supply, but would often spring up out of any small pool which the Nile left as it retired, and, when the water failed from the peel, would rapidly wither away. A fine papyrus plant was on view, with other water-plants, in the circular greenhouse in Kew Gardens, towards the end of the season of 1890. Can the flag grow without water "The flag" (אחוּ) seems to be the ordinary sedge, or marah-plant. Like the papyrus, it would often spring up in all its greenness from a pool or pond left by the retiring river, and then in a few days, when the water was dried up, would wither away. Both images represent the prosperity of the wicked, and were probably proverbial.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Does papyrus
גֹּ֭מֶא (gō·me)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1573: An absorbent, the bulrush, the papyrus

grow
הֲיִֽגְאֶה־ (hă·yiḡ·’eh-)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1342: To mount up, to rise, be majestic

where there is no
בְּלֹ֣א (bə·lō)
Preposition-b | Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

marsh?
בִצָּ֑ה (ḇiṣ·ṣāh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 1207: A swamp

Do reeds
אָ֥חוּ (’ā·ḥū)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 260: A bulrush, any marshy grass

flourish
יִשְׂגֶּה־ (yiś·geh-)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 7685: To grow, increase

without
בְלִי־ (ḇə·lî-)
Adverb
Strong's 1097: Failure, nothing, destruction, without, not yet, because not, as long as

water?
מָֽיִם׃ (mā·yim)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 4325: Water, juice, urine, semen


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OT Poetry: Job 8:11 Can the papyrus grow up without mire? (Jb)
Job 8:10
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