Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up:
Let them be as the grass upon the house-tops, which withereth afore it groweth up - (Psalms 37:2; Isaiah 37:27.) Grass, on the flat roofs in Eastern houses, readily takes root but, having no depth of soil, speedily withers-literally, 'afore it is drawn forth.' It is better to take the Hebrew of "groweth up" х shaalap (H8025)], 'before (one) draweth forth the reaping hook' (Buxtorf); or 'before (one) pulleth it up' (Hengstenberg). Compare Hebrew, Ruth 4:7. So Job 34:20, "taken away without hand." So Daniel 2:34. Thus the image expresses the cutting off of the wicked suddenly by the visitation of God, before their removal in the ordinary course of nature.