Job 8:16

He is a well-watered plant ¹  in ²  the sun, its shoots spread ³  over its garden. ⁴ 

He is like a well-watered plant in the sunshine, spreading its shoots over the garden;

"He thrives before the sun, And his shoots spread out over his garden.

The godless seem so strong, like a lush plant growing in the sunshine, its branches spreading across the garden.

Or they're like weeds springing up in the sunshine, invading the garden,

He is full of strength before the sun, and his branches go out over his garden.

The wicked thrive before the sun, and their shoots spread over the garden.

He grows green in the sun, And his branches spread out in his garden.

He is a well-watered plant ¹  in ²  the sun, its shoots spread ³  over its garden. ⁴ 

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).