Discovery BoxJob 8:16 
Context8:16 He is a well-watered plant 1 in 2 the sun,
its shoots spread 3 over its garden. 4
Job 14:9
Context14:9 at the scent 5 of water it will flourish 6
and put forth 7 shoots like a new plant.
Job 41:21
Context41:21 Its breath sets coals ablaze
and a flame shoots from its mouth.
1 tn The figure now changes to a plant that is flourishing and spreading and then suddenly cut off. The word רָטַב (ratav) means “to be moist; to be watered.” The word occurs in Arabic, Aramaic, and Akkadian, but only twice in the Bible: here as the adjective and in 24:8 as the verb.
2 tn The Hebrew is לִפְנֵי (lifne, “before”). Does this mean “in the presence of the sun,” i.e., under a sweltering sun, or “before” the sun rises? It seems more natural to take לִפְנֵי (lifne) as “in the presence of” or “under.”
3 tn Heb “its shoot goes out.”
4 tc Some have emended this phrase to obtain “over the roofs.” The LXX has “out of his corruption.” H. M. Orlinsky has shown that this reading arose from an internal LXX change, saprias having replaced prasias, “garden” (JQR 26 [1935/36]: 134-35).
5 tn The personification adds to the comparison with people – the tree is credited with the sense of smell to detect the water.
6 tn The sense of “flourish” for this verb is found in Ps 92:12,13[13,14], and Prov 14:11. It makes an appropriate parallel with “bring forth boughs” in the second half.
7 tn Heb “and will make.”
