Job 8:11

Can the rush grow up without mire?.... No, at least not long, or so as to lift up his head on high, as the word signifies a; the rush or bulrush, which seems to be meant, delights in watery places, and has its name in Hebrew from its absorbing or drinking up water; it grows in moist and watery clay, or in marshy places, which Jarchi says is the sense of the word here used; the Septuagint understands it of the "paper reed", which, as Pliny b observes, grows in the marshy places of Egypt, and by the still waters of the river Nile:

can the flag grow without water? or "the sedge" c; which usually grows in moist places, and on the banks of rivers; this unless in such places, or if without water, cannot grow long, or make any very large increase, or come to maturity; so some d render it, "if the rush should grow up without", c. then it would be with it as follows.

a היגאה "an attollit se", Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius "an superbiet", so some Beza, Schultens. b Nat. Hist. l. 13. c. 11. c אחו "carectum", V. L. "ulva", Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Schmidt, Michaelis, Schultens. d Sic Bar Tzemach Belgae.