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11 “Can the papyrus grow up without mire?
    Can the rushes grow without water?
12 While it is yet in its greenness, not cut down,
    it withers before any other reed.
13 So are the paths of all who forget God.
    The hope of the godless man will perish,
14 Whose confidence will break apart,
    Whose trust is a spider’s web.
15 He will lean on his house, but it will not stand.
    He will cling to it, but it will not endure.
16 He is green before the sun.
    His shoots go out along his garden.
17 His roots are wrapped around the rock pile.
    He sees the place of stones.
18 If he is destroyed from his place,
    then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have not seen you.’
19 Behold, this is the joy of his way:
    out of the earth, others will spring.

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11 Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh?(A)
    Can reeds(B) thrive without water?
12 While still growing and uncut,
    they wither more quickly than grass.(C)
13 Such is the destiny(D) of all who forget God;(E)
    so perishes the hope of the godless.(F)
14 What they trust in is fragile[a];
    what they rely on is a spider’s web.(G)
15 They lean on the web,(H) but it gives way;
    they cling to it, but it does not hold.(I)
16 They are like a well-watered plant in the sunshine,
    spreading its shoots(J) over the garden;(K)
17 it entwines its roots around a pile of rocks
    and looks for a place among the stones.
18 But when it is torn from its spot,
    that place disowns(L) it and says, ‘I never saw you.’(M)
19 Surely its life withers(N) away,
    and[b] from the soil other plants grow.(O)

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Footnotes

  1. Job 8:14 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
  2. Job 8:19 Or Surely all the joy it has / is that