Bible Strands
Job 8:11
Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Do reeds flourish without water?
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Zophar speaks to Job during his second speech, using an agricultural analogy to challenge Job’s defense of his own integrity.
The words — יִגְאֶה (yig'eh) means "will it grow tall" and גֹּמֶא (go'meh) means "papyrus," establishing the concrete image of a marsh-dependent plant.
The thread — The text references papyrus in Exodus 2:3 for a woven basket and in Isaiah 19:5 when the Nile’s waters recede, both underscoring the plant’s reliance on standing water.
Why it lands — The verse states that papyrus and reeds cannot survive without a marsh or water, requiring the reader to accept that moral or spiritual vitality cannot persist without its sustaining source.
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
Can the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water?
Cross-references
- Exodus 2:3 But when she could no longer hide him, she got him a papyrus basket and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in the basket and set it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.
- Isaiah 19:5 The waters of the Nile will dry up, and the riverbed will be parched and empty.