Psalms Chapter 129 verse 6 Holy Bible
Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, Which withereth before it groweth up;
read chapter 129 in ASV
Let them be like the grass on the house-tops, which is dry before it comes to full growth.
read chapter 129 in BBE
Let them be as the grass upon the house-tops, which withereth before it is plucked up,
read chapter 129 in DARBY
Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up:
read chapter 129 in KJV
read chapter 129 in WBT
Let them be as the grass on the housetops, Which withers before it grows up;
read chapter 129 in WEB
They are as grass of the roofs, That before it was drawn out withereth,
read chapter 129 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 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.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(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.
