Bible Strands
Job 29:19
My roots will spread out to the waters, and the dew will rest nightly on my branches.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Job addresses an implied audience in a retrospective monologue about his former prosperity. He describes a past season of life characterized by abundance and security before detailing his subsequent ruin.
The words — The Hebrew phrase שָׁרְשִׁי פְתֻּחַ אֱלֵי־מָיִם (shareshi petuch el-mayim) translates literally to "my root is opened to water." This agricultural image depicts a tree drawing continuous nourishment from a reliable source.
The thread — This root-and-water motif appears in Psalms 1:3 and Jeremiah 17:8 to describe the righteous, while Job 18:16 uses drying roots to depict the fate of the wicked. The imagery establishes a biblical pattern linking vitality to divine provision and stability to its withdrawal.
Why it lands — The text explicitly claims Job's former life functioned like a well-watered tree, drawing constant nourishment without visible strain. Interpreters note this asserts how human stability often masks its true dependence on external provision before loss strips that illusion away.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
My root was spread out by the waters, and the dew lay all night upon my branch.
Cross-references
- Psalms 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.
- Job 18:16 The roots beneath him dry up, and the branches above him wither away.
- Hosea 14:5 I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like the lily and take root like the cedars of Lebanon.