Psalm 129:6
New International Version
May they be like grass on the roof, which withers before it can grow;

New Living Translation
May they be as useless as grass on a rooftop, turning yellow when only half grown,

English Standard Version
Let them be like the grass on the housetops, which withers before it grows up,

Berean Standard Bible
May they be like grass on the rooftops, which withers before it can grow,

King James Bible
Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up:

New King James Version
Let them be as the grass on the housetops, Which withers before it grows up,

New American Standard Bible
May they be like grass upon the housetops, Which withers before it grows up;

NASB 1995
Let them be like grass upon the housetops, Which withers before it grows up;

NASB 1977
Let them be like grass upon the housetops, Which withers before it grows up;

Legacy Standard Bible
Let them be like grass upon the rooftops, Which dries up before it grows up;

Amplified Bible
Let them be like the grass on the housetops, Which withers before it grows up,

Christian Standard Bible
Let them be like grass on the rooftops, which withers before it grows up

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Let them be like grass on the rooftops, which withers before it grows up

American Standard Version
Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, Which withereth before it groweth up;

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
They shall be like the grass of the rooftop which the wind pulls out and dries up when it blows upon it.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Let them be as the grass of the house-tops, which withers before it is plucked up.

Contemporary English Version
May they be like grass on the flat roof of a house, grass that dries up as soon as it sprouts.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Let them be as grass on the tops of houses: which withered before it be plucked up:

English Revised Version
Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up:

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Make them be like grass on a roof, like grass that dries up before it produces a stalk.

Good News Translation
May they all be like grass growing on the housetops, which dries up before it can grow;

International Standard Version
May they become like a tuft of grass on a roof top, that withers before it takes root—

JPS Tanakh 1917
Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, Which withereth afore it springeth up;

Literal Standard Version
They are as grass of the roofs, | That withers before it was drawn out,

Majority Standard Bible
May they be like grass on the rooftops, which withers before it can grow,

New American Bible
May they be like grass on the rooftops withered in early growth,

NET Bible
May they be like the grass on the rooftops which withers before one can even pull it up,

New Revised Standard Version
Let them be like the grass on the housetops that withers before it grows up,

New Heart English Bible
Let them be as the grass on the housetops, which withers before it grows up;

Webster's Bible Translation
Let them be as the grass upon the house-tops, which withereth before it groweth up:

World English Bible
Let them be as the grass on the housetops, which withers before it grows up,

Young's Literal Translation
They are as grass of the roofs, That before it was drawn out withereth,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Cords of the Wicked
5May all who hate Zion be turned back in shame. 6May they be like grass on the rooftops, which withers before it can grow, 7unable to fill the hands of the reaper, or the arms of the binder of sheaves.…

Cross References
Matthew 10:27
What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the housetops.

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.

Psalm 37:2
For they wither quickly like grass and wilt like tender plants.

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.


Treasury of Scripture

Let them be as the grass on the housetops, which wither before it grows up:

as the grass

Psalm 37:2
For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.

Psalm 92:7
When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever:

Jeremiah 17:5,6
Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD…

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Afore Drawn Dry Full Grass Grow Groweth Grows Growth Housetops House-Tops Plucked Roof Roofs Springeth Withereth Withers
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Afore Drawn Dry Full Grass Grow Groweth Grows Growth Housetops House-Tops Plucked Roof Roofs Springeth Withereth Withers
Psalm 129
1. An exhortation to praise God for saving Israel in their great afflictions
5. The haters of the church are cursed














(6) Which withereth afore it groweth up.--This clause, with its Aramaic colouring, probably contains a textual error. The context seems certainly to require the meaning "before it is plucked up," and many scholars get this meaning out of the Hebrew verb used elsewhere of "plucking off a shoe" and "drawing a sword." They give, which is no doubt legitimate, an impersonal sense to the active verb, "which withereth before one pulls it up." The LXX. (received text), the Vulg., Theodotion, and the Quinta favour this rendering. On the other hand, the image of grass withering before it comes to maturity is exactly what we should expect here, growing as it does without soil (comp. the "seed on the rock" in the parable of the sower), and suggests a more complete and sudden destruction of the enemies, who perish before the abortive plans of evil can be carried out. The rendering of the Authorised Version is therefore to be retained, and is actually supported by Aquila, Symmachus, the Sexta, and in various readings of the LXX. A thatched cottage in our country might present the picture suggested by the verse, but it was much more familiar where the housetops were flat and plastered with a composition of mortar, tar, ashes, and sand, which, unless carefully rolled, would naturally become covered with weeds. Indeed, in many cases, especially on the poorest sort of houses, the roof would be little better than hard mud. For similar allusions comp. 2Kings 19:26 and Isaiah 37:27.

Verse 6. - Let them be as the grass upon the housetops; literally, they shall be as the grass of housetops. The fiat roofs of Oriental houses are usually covered in early spring with a crop of bright-green grass. But the scorching rays of the sun soon burn this up, and it becomes dry and withered (see 'The Land and the Book,' p. 682; and comp. Isaiah 37:27). Which withereth afore it groweth up; literally, before it is unsheathed; i.e. before the blossom has left the sheath in which it is formed.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
May they be
יִ֭הְיוּ (yih·yū)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1961: To fall out, come to pass, become, be

like grass
כַּחֲצִ֣יר (ka·ḥă·ṣîr)
Preposition-k | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 2682: Green grass, herbage

on the rooftops,
גַּגּ֑וֹת (gag·gō·wṯ)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 1406: A roof, the top of an altar

which withers
יָבֵֽשׁ׃ (yā·ḇêš)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 3001: To be ashamed, confused, disappointed, to dry up, wither

before
שֶׁקַּדְמַ֖ת (šeq·qaḏ·maṯ)
Pronoun - relative | Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 6927: Antiquity, former state

it can grow,
שָׁלַ֣ף (šā·lap̄)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 8025: To pull out, up, off


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OT Poetry: Psalm 129:6 Let them be as the grass (Psalm Ps Psa.)
Psalm 129:5
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