Bible Strands
Job 8:17
His roots wrap around the rock heap; he looks for a home among the stones.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — A speaker addresses Job within a poetic discourse, using a plant metaphor to describe temporary stability before sudden uprooting.
The words — שָׁרָשָׁיו (sha.rashayv) = its roots and גַּל (gal) = heap.
The thread — The plant-root imagery appears in Job 18:16, Job 29:19, and Isaiah 5:24.
Why it lands — The text states that the plant's roots interweave through stone to seek shelter, but Job 8:18 immediately notes that uprooting brings total disowning. The passage demands recognition that apparent stability is conditional and reversible.
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
His roots are wrapped about the heap, and seeth the place of stones.
Cross-references
- Job 18:16 The roots beneath him dry up, and the branches above him wither away.
- Job 29:19 My roots will spread out to the waters, and the dew will rest nightly on my branches.
- 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 40:24 No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner have their stems taken root in the ground, than He blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like stubble.
- Jeremiah 12:1 Righteous are You, O LORD, when I plead before You. Yet about Your judgments I wish to contend with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?
- Mark 11:20 As they were walking back in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from its roots.
- Jude 1:12 These men are hidden reefs in your love feasts, shamelessly feasting with you but shepherding only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried along by the wind; fruitless trees in autumn, twice dead after being uprooted.