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Job 8:11

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

Rush - rather, paper reed: the papyrus of Egypt, which was used to make garments, shoes, baskets, boats, and paper (a word derived from it). It and the flag or bulrush grow only in marshy places such as are along the Nile. So the godless thrive only in external prosperity: there is in the hypocrite no inward stability, "Because he is without the favour of God, the sole fountain of life" (Psalms 36:9). His prosperity is like the rapid growth of water plants. The double point of comparison between the ungodly and the paper reed is:

(1) The luxuriant prosperity at first; and

(2) The sudden destruction.

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See also Job 8:11 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse Job 8:11. _CAN THE RUSH GROW_] The word גמא _gome_, which we translate _rush_, is, without doubt, the Egyptian flag _papyrus_, on which the ancients _wrote_, and from which our _paper_ derives...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    CAN THE RUSH - This passage has all the appearance of being a fragment of a poem handed down from ancient times. It is adduced by Bildad as an example of the views of the ancients, and, as the connect...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    CHAPTER 8 BILDAD'S ADDRESS _ 1. How long, Job? (Job 8:1)_ 2. Enquire of the former age (Job 8:8) 3. God's dealing with the wicked and the righteous (Job 8:11)...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    THE WISDOM OF THE ANCIENTS. Bildad recalls Job to tradition as enshrined in the proverbs of the fathers (Job 8:8). Authority belongs to the voice of the past (Job 8:9). The respect which our age has f...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    CAN... ? Figure of speech _Erotesis._ App-6. This is the first simile. See the second, verses: Job 8:16....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    The ancient wisdom itself. This wisdom is plainly not that of the Arabs or Idumeans, but is Egyptian. The _rush_is most probably the Papyrus, which is said to attain a growth twice the height of a man...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    The moral wisdom of the ancients Bildad, having laid down his moral principle, invites Job to reflect that it is a principle resting on the research and the generalized experience of men of generatio...

  • Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae

    DISCOURSE: 457 BILDAD WARNS JOB OF THE DANGER OF HYPOCRISY Job 8:8. Inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers: (for we are but of yesterday, and know...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    FOR INQUIRE, I PRAY THEE, &C.— Bildad had exhorted Job to apply himself to God by prayer, upon the assurance, that if he were innocent, as he pretended, or shewed any marks of a sincere repentance, th...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    CAN THE RUSH GROW UP WITHOUT MIRE? &C.— _A bulrush without water_ is proverbial. It is adapted to the hypocrite, who, while he suddenly grows up, withers as suddenly, and while he flourishes most verd...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    2. The wisdom of the ages teaches that it is the godless who perish. (Job 8:8-19) TEXT 8:8-19 8 FOR INQUIRE, I PRAY THEE, OF THE FORMER AGE, And apply thyself to that which their fathers have searc...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    THE FIRST SPEECH OF BILDAD Holding the same doctrine about sin and suffering as Eliphaz, Bildad supports the views of his friend by an appeal to the teaching of antiquity. He shows less sympathy and...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    THE RUSH] RM 'the papyrus,' a reed from which the Egyptians made paper, light boats, etc....

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    JOB, A SERVANT OF GOD Job _KEITH SIMONS_ Words in boxes (except for words in brackets) are from the Bible. This commentary has been through Advanced Checking. CHAPTER 8 BILDAD’S FIRST SPEECH TH...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    Bildad explained his ideas with three stories. • The first story is about plants that grow near the river (verses 11-13). Without water, such plants die quickly. Such plants are like people who do no...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    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....

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    הֲ יִֽגְאֶה ־גֹּ֭מֶא בְּ לֹ֣א בִצָּ֑ה יִשְׂגּ

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    XIX. VENTURESOME THEOLOGY Job 8:1 BILDAD SPEAKS THE first attempt to meet Job has been made by one who relies on his own experience and takes pleasure in recounting the things which he has seen. Bi...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    GOD WILL NOT CAST AWAY Job 8:1 Bildad now takes up the argument, appealing to the experience of former generations to show that special suffering, like Job's, indicated special sin, however deeply c...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    In answer to Job, the next of his friends, Bildad, took up the argument. There is greater directness in his speech than in that of Eliphaz. By comparison it lacks in courtesy, but gains in force. He m...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    Can the rush (g) grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water? (g) As a rush cannot grow without moisture, so the hypocrite because he does not have faith which is watered with God's Spirit....

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    _Sedge-bush, or flag. Hebrew achu; so called, because from one root many brothers (as it were) spring. Septuagint style it Greek: Boutomon, as it was usually "cut for oxen," Genesis xli. 2. (Parkhurst...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    (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 his greenness, and...

  • John Brown Commentaries Selected Books of the Bible

    Bildad's Lecture I. INTRODUCTION A. Last week in Job's reply to Eliphaz - we saw a small glimpse of the Job's physical condition: 1. The worms, the sores that would break open in the sleepless nigh...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY COVERS CHAPTER S 4 THROUGH 31. As to the friends of Job, they do not call for any extended remarks. They urge the doctrine that God's earthly government is a full measure and...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    CAN THE RUSH GROW UP WITHOUT MIRE?.... No, at least not long, or so as to lift up his head on high, as the word signifies a; the rush or bulrush, which seems to be meant, delights in watery places, an...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    Can the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water? Ver. 11. _Can the rush grow up without mire?_] _Iam subiungit quod illi exploratum habuerant et perspectum, sed eleganti similitudi...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _Can the rush grow without mire_, &c. This, and what follows, he speaks as from those ancients, to whom he had referred him, and concerning whom he says, that they would give him such instructions as...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    Can the rush, the papyrus reed, GROW UP WITHOUT MIRE, outside of the rich, moist marsh soil? CAN THE FLAG GROW WITHOUT WATER?...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    An Accusation of Wickedness against Job. Bildad was convinced that Job was, in some way, guilty of some special great transgression against the Lord, that his present affliction was the punishment fo...

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    BILDAD'S CRUEL RESPONSE (vv.1-22) Bildad's response to Job was much more brief than that of Eliphaz, but following along the same line. He did not begin in the conciliatory way that Eliphaz did, how...

  • Mark Dunagan Commentaries

    "Just as. papyrus plant and reeds cannot grow without water and so wither without even being cut, the wicked cannot sustain themselves without uprightness, and they soon lose their evident prosperity...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    8-19 Bildad discourses well of hypocrites and evil-doers, and the fatal end of all their hopes and joys. He proves this truth of the destruction of the hopes and joys of hypocrites, by an appeal to f...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    WITHOUT MIRE, i.e. if it be not in moist and miry ground. This and what follows he mentions as it were in the person of those ancients to whom he had referred him, of whom he saith that they would giv...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Job 8:11 papyrus H1573 up H1342 (H8799) marsh H1207 reeds H260 flourish H7685 (H8799) without H1097 wa

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Bildad's theory of Job's affliction. CHARACTERS: God, Bildad, Job. CONCLUSION: It is not just or charitable to argue that merely because one is in deep affliction, he is therefore a hypocr...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Job 8:7. _Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should be great._ Many great patriarchs, like Jacob, had once but a small beginning. Job 8:11. _Can the rush grow._ The LXX read, “the pap...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _Can the rush grow up without mire?_ --The rush to which he refers did not grow in the dry and parched land of Uz, which was the place where Bildad and Job lived. It grew principally in Egypt, and in...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    JOB—NOTE ON JOB 8:1 Bildad is the second friend to “comfort” Job. ⇐ ⇔...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    JOB—NOTE ON JOB 8:11 PAPYRUS and REEDS grow quickly in the wetlands, but they are also very vulnerable. They need a constant supply of water. Other plants are deeply rooted in rocky soil, but they can...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    _BILDAD’S FIRST SPEECH_ Bildad less courteous and considerate of Job’s feelings than even Eliphaz. Commences with an unfeeling reflection on his speech. Pursues the same line of argument and address...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION JOB 8:1 THEN ANSWERED BILDAD THE SHUHITE, AND SAID. Bildad the Shuhite has the second place in the passage where Job's friends are first mentioned (Job 2:11), and occupies the same relativ...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    So Bildad, the next friend, speaks up and he said, How long will you speak these things? how long will your words of your mouth be like a [big, bag of] wind? Does God pervert judgment? or does the Al...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    Exodus 2:3; Isaiah 19:5...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    Can, &c. — The hypocrite cannot build his hope, without some false, rotten ground or other, any more than the rush can grow without mire, or the flag without water....

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