61 Bible Verses about Roots

They plucked mallow among the shrubs,
and the roots of the broom tree were their food.

There is hope for a tree:
If it is cut down, it will sprout again,
and its shoots will not die.
If its roots grow old in the ground
and its stump starts to die in the soil,
the smell of water makes it thrive
and produce twigs like a sapling.

Then He told them many things in parables, saying: “Consider the sower who went out to sow. As he was sowing, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on rocky ground, where there wasn’t much soil, and they sprang up quickly since the soil wasn’t deep. read more.
But when the sun came up they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered.

He taught them many things in parables, and in His teaching He said to them: “Listen! Consider the sower who went out to sow. As he sowed, this occurred: Some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. read more.
Other seed fell on rocky ground where it didn’t have much soil, and it sprang up right away, since it didn’t have deep soil. When the sun came up, it was scorched, and since it didn’t have a root, it withered.

Early in the morning, as they were passing by, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. Then Peter remembered and said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that You cursed is withered.”

“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to attest these things to you for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright Morning Star.”

Then a shoot will grow from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him—
a Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
a Spirit of counsel and strength,
a Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
His delight will be in the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge
by what He sees with His eyes,
He will not execute justice
by what He hears with His ears,
read more.
but He will judge the poor righteously
and execute justice for the oppressed of the land.
He will strike the land
with discipline from His mouth,
and He will kill the wicked
with a command from His lips.
Righteousness will be a belt around His loins;
faithfulness will be a belt around His waist.

Who has believed what we have heard?
And who has the arm of the Lord been revealed to?
He grew up before Him like a young plant
and like a root out of dry ground.
He didn’t have an impressive form
or majesty that we should look at Him,
no appearance that we should desire Him.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of suffering who knew what sickness was.
He was like someone people turned away from;
He was despised, and we didn’t value Him.

For I say that the Messiah became a servant of the circumcised on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises to the fathers, and so that Gentiles may glorify God for His mercy. As it is written:

Therefore I will praise You among the Gentiles,
and I will sing psalms to Your name. Again it says: Rejoice, you Gentiles, with His people! read more.
And again:

Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles;
all the peoples should praise Him! And again, Isaiah says:

The root of Jesse will appear,
the One who rises to rule the Gentiles;
the Gentiles will hope in Him.

Then one of the elders said to me, “Stop crying. Look! The Lion from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has been victorious so that He may open the scroll and its seven seals.”

So I thought: I will die in my own nest
and multiply my days as the sand.
My roots will have access to water,
and the dew will rest on my branches all night.
My strength will be refreshed within me,
and my bow will be renewed in my hand.

Those with their roots in Amalek came from Ephraim;
Benjamin came with your people after you.
The leaders came down from Machir,
and those who carry a marshal’s staff came from Zebulun.

Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh?
Do reeds flourish without water?
While still uncut shoots,
they would dry up quicker than any other plant.
Such is the destiny of all who forget God;
the hope of the godless will perish.
read more.
His source of confidence is fragile;
what he trusts in is a spider’s web.
He leans on his web, but it doesn’t stand firm.
He grabs it, but it does not hold up.
He is a well-watered plant in the sunshine;
his shoots spread out over his garden.
His roots are intertwined around a pile of rocks.
He looks for a home among the stones.
If he is uprooted from his place,
it will deny knowing him, saying, “I never saw you.”
Surely this is the joy of his way of life;
yet others will sprout from the dust.

Yes, the light of the wicked is extinguished;
the flame of his fire does not glow.
The light in his tent grows dark,
and the lamp beside him is put out.
His powerful stride is shortened,
and his own schemes trip him up.
read more.
For his own feet lead him into a net,
and he strays into its mesh.
A trap catches him by the heel;
a noose seizes him.
A rope lies hidden for him on the ground,
and a snare waits for him along the path.
Terrors frighten him on every side
and harass him at every step.
His strength is depleted;
disaster lies ready for him to stumble.
Parts of his skin are eaten away;
death’s firstborn consumes his limbs.
He is ripped from the security of his tent
and marched away to the king of terrors.
Nothing he owned remains in his tent.
Burning sulfur is scattered over his home.
His roots below dry up,
and his branches above wither away.
All memory of him perishes from the earth;
he has no name anywhere.

He is like a tree planted beside streams of water
that bears its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.

Return, God of Hosts.
Look down from heaven and see;
take care of this vine,
the root Your right hand has planted,
the shoot that You made strong for Yourself.

Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine,
who are fearless at mixing beer,
who acquit the guilty for a bribe
and deprive the innocent of justice. Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes straw
and as dry grass shrivels in the flame,
so their roots will become like something rotten
and their blossoms will blow away like dust,
for they have rejected
the instruction of the Lord of Hosts,
and they have despised
the word of the Holy One of Israel.

Then the firstborn of the poor will be well fed,
and the impoverished will lie down in safety,
but I will kill your root with hunger,
and your remnant will be slain.

“‘This will be the sign for you: This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what grows from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. For a remnant will go out from Jerusalem and survivors, from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this.’

The man who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence indeed is the Lord, is blessed.
He will be like a tree planted by water:
it sends its roots out toward a stream,
it doesn’t fear when heat comes,
and its foliage remains green.
It will not worry in a year of drought
or cease producing fruit.

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, pose a riddle and speak a parable to the house of Israel. You are to say: This is what the Lord God says:

A great eagle with great wings, long pinions,
and full plumage of many colors
came to Lebanon and took the top of the cedar.
read more.
He plucked off its topmost shoot,
brought it to the land of merchants,
and set it in a city of traders.
Then he took some of the land’s seed
and put it in a fertile field;
he set it like a willow,
a plant by abundant waters.
It sprouted and became a spreading vine,
low in height with its branches turned toward him,
yet its roots stayed under it.
So it became a vine,
produced branches, and sent out shoots. But there was another great eagle
with great wings and thick plumage.
And this vine bent its roots toward him!
It stretched out its branches to him
from its planting bed,
so that he might water it.
It had been planted
in a good field by abundant waters
in order to produce branches,
bear fruit, and become a splendid vine. You are to say: This is what the Lord God says:

Will it flourish?
Will he not tear out its roots
and strip off its fruit
so that it shrivels?
All its fresh leaves will wither!
Great strength and many people
will not be needed to pull it from its roots.
Even though it is planted, will it flourish?
Won’t it completely wither
when the east wind strikes it?
It will wither on the bed where it sprouted.”

Think of Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon,
with beautiful branches and shady foliage
and of lofty height.
Its top was among the clouds.
The waters caused it to grow;
the underground springs made it tall,
directing their rivers all around
the place where the tree was planted
and sending their channels
to all the trees of the field.
Therefore the cedar became greater in height
than all the trees of the field.
Its branches multiplied,
and its boughs grew long
as it spread them out
because of the plentiful water.
read more.
All the birds of the sky
nested in its branches,
and all the animals of the field
gave birth beneath its boughs;
all the great nations lived in its shade.
It was beautiful in its greatness,
in the length of its limbs,
for its roots extended to abundant water.
The cedars in God’s garden could not rival it;
the pine trees couldn’t compare with its branches,
nor could the plane trees match its boughs.
No tree in the garden of God
could compare with it in beauty.
I made it beautiful with its many limbs,
and all the trees of Eden,
which were in God’s garden, envied it.

“As I was lying in my bed, I also saw in the visions of my mind an observer, a holy one, coming down from heaven. He called out loudly:

Cut down the tree and chop off its branches;
strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit.
Let the animals flee from under it,
and the birds from its branches.
But leave the stump with its roots in the ground,
and with a band of iron and bronze around it,
in the tender grass of the field.
Let him be drenched with dew from the sky
and share the plants of the earth
with the animals.
read more.
Let his mind be changed from that of a man,
and let him be given the mind of an animal
for seven periods of time.

“For indeed, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and everyone who commits wickedness will become stubble. The coming day will consume them,” says the Lord of Hosts, “not leaving them root or branches.

Even now the ax is ready to strike the root of the trees! Therefore, every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

Even now the ax is ready to strike the root of the trees! Therefore, every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

“You, then, listen to the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the one sown along the path. And the one sown on rocky ground—this is one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. read more.
Yet he has no root in himself, but is short-lived. When pressure or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he stumbles.

Then He said to them: “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any of the parables? The sower sows the word. These are the ones along the path where the word is sown: when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word sown in them. read more.
And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, immediately they receive it with joy. But they have no root in themselves; they are short-lived. When pressure or persecution comes because of the word, they immediately stumble.

“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the Devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. And the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, welcome the word with joy. Having no root, these believe for a while and depart in a time of testing.

He replied, “Every plant that My heavenly Father didn’t plant will be uprooted.

Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. In view of the fact that I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if I can somehow make my own people jealous and save some of them. For if their rejection brings reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? read more.
Now if the firstfruits offered up are holy, so is the whole batch. And if the root is holy, so are the branches. Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, though a wild olive branch, were grafted in among them and have come to share in the rich root of the cultivated olive tree, do not brag that you are better than those branches. But if you do brag—you do not sustain the root, but the root sustains you. Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” True enough; they were broken off by unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you either.

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

If you say, “How will we pursue him,
since the root of the problem lies with him?”

The miner strikes the flint
and transforms the mountains at their foundations.

The wicked desire what evil men have,
but the root of the righteous produces fruit.

Don’t rejoice, all of you in Philistia,
because the rod of the one who struck you is broken.
For a viper will come from the root of a snake,
and from its egg comes a flying serpent.

Yet I destroyed the Amorite as Israel advanced;
his height was like the cedars,
and he was as sturdy as the oaks;
I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath.

I sank to the foundations of the mountains;
the earth with its prison bars closed behind me forever!
But You raised my life from the Pit, Lord my God!

Make sure that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no root of bitterness springs up, causing trouble and by it, defiling many.

Be sure there is no man, woman, clan, or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations. Be sure there is no root among you bearing poisonous and bitter fruit.

Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, overflowing with gratitude.

The surviving remnant of the house of Israel will again take root downward and bear fruit upward.

I have seen a fool taking root,
but I immediately pronounced a curse on his home.

You uprooted a vine from Egypt;
You drove out the nations and planted it.
You cleared a place for it;
it took root and filled the land.

In days to come, Jacob will take root.
Israel will blossom and bloom
and fill the whole world with fruit.

They are barely planted, barely sown,
their stem hardly takes root in the ground
when He blows on them and they wither,
and a whirlwind carries them away like stubble.

You planted them, and they have taken root.
They have grown and produced fruit.
You are ever on their lips,
but far from their conscience.

For this reason I kneel before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. I pray that He may grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power in the inner man through His Spirit, read more.
and that the Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, and to know the Messiah’s love that surpasses knowledge, so you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

He tears me down on every side so that I am ruined.
He uproots my hope like a tree.

For the Lord will strike Israel and the people will shake as a reed shakes in water. He will uproot Israel from this good soil that He gave to their ancestors. He will scatter them beyond the Euphrates because they made their Asherah poles, provoking the Lord.

This is why God will bring you down forever.
He will take you, ripping you out of your tent;
He will uproot you from the land of the living.Selah

The righteous will never be shaken,
but the wicked will not remain on the earth.

Man cannot be made secure by wickedness,
but the root of the righteous is immovable.

See, I have appointed you today
over nations and kingdoms
to uproot and tear down,
to destroy and demolish,
to build and plant.

This is what the Lord says: “Concerning all My evil neighbors who attack the inheritance that I bequeathed to My people, Israel, I am about to uproot them from their land, and I will uproot the house of Judah from them. After I have uprooted them, I will once again have compassion on them and return each one to his inheritance and to his land.

Just as I watched over them to uproot and to tear them down, to demolish and to destroy, and to cause disaster, so will I be attentive to build and to plant them,” says the Lord.

“This is what you are to say to him: ‘This is what the Lord says: What I have built I am about to demolish, and what I have planted I am about to uproot—the whole land!

You are to say: This is what the Lord God says:

Will it flourish?
Will he not tear out its roots
and strip off its fruit
so that it shrivels?
All its fresh leaves will wither!
Great strength and many people
will not be needed to pull it from its roots.

But it was uprooted in fury,
thrown to the ground,
and the east wind dried up its fruit.
Its strong branches were torn off and dried up;
fire consumed them.

Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes straw
and as dry grass shrivels in the flame,
so their roots will become like something rotten
and their blossoms will blow away like dust,
for they have rejected
the instruction of the Lord of Hosts,
and they have despised
the word of the Holy One of Israel.

These are the ones who are like dangerous reefs at your love feasts. They feast with you, nurturing only themselves without fear. They are waterless clouds carried along by winds; trees in late autumn—fruitless, twice dead, pulled out by the roots;