Bible Strands
Psalms 129:6
May they be like grass on the rooftops, which withers before it can grow,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist pronounces a curse against Israel’s enemies, positioned between a plea for their shame (v.5) and a description of their harvest failure (v.7).
The words — יִ֭הְיוּ (Yih.yu) translates “may they be,” and יָבֵֽשׁ (ya.Vesh) translates “it has withered,” establishing the image of premature death.
The thread — The withering grass motif recurs in Psalms 37:2, 2 Kings 19:26, and Psalms 92:7 to mark the fleeting prosperity of the wicked.
Why it lands — It requires the reader to acknowledge that hostility toward Zion produces no viable yield and ends in public futility.
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
Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up:
Cross-references
- Psalms 37:2 For they wither quickly like grass and wilt like tender plants.
- 2 Kings 19:26 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.
- Psalms 92:7 that though the wicked sprout like grass, and all evildoers flourish, they will be forever destroyed.
- 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.
- Jeremiah 17:5 This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes mere flesh his strength and turns his heart from the LORD.
- Matthew 13:6 But when the sun rose, the seedlings were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.