Job 31:40

Job 31:40 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.
• New International Version (NIV)then let briers come up instead of wheat and stinkweed instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.
• English Standard Version (ESV)let thorns grow instead of wheat, and foul weeds instead of barley." The words of Job are ended.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Then let thistles grow instead of wheat, And weeds instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.

Context of Job 31:40

38“For if my land has cried out against me, And its furrows weep together; 39If I have eaten its fruits without paying for them, Or have caused its [rightful] owners to lose their lives, Let thorns grow instead of wheat, And stinkweed and cockleburs instead of barley.” So the words of Job [with his friends] are finished.

Job 31:40 word by word

תַּ֤חַת חִטָּ֨ה׀ יֵ֥צֵא ח֗וֹחַ וְתַֽחַת־שְׂעֹרָ֥ה בָאְשָׁ֑ה תַּ֝֗מּוּ דִּבְרֵ֥י אִיּֽוֹב׃ פRead the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Let thistlesחוֹחַchôach · thistleH2336
• growיָצָאyâtsâ' · to come out: issueH3318
• instead of wheatחִטָּהchiţţâh · wheatH2406
• and cockleבׇּאְשָׁהbo'shâh · foul weedH890
• instead of barleyשְׂעֹרָהώe‛ôrâh ώe‛ôrâh ώe‛ôr ώe‛ôr · barleyH8184
• The wordsדָּבָרdâbâr · wordH1697
• of Jobאִיּוֹב'îyôb · JobH347
• are endedתָּמַםtâmam · to finishH8552

Cross-references for Job 31:40

• 2 Kings 14:9Jehoash the king of Israel sent word to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, “The [little] thorn-bush in Lebanon sent word to the [tall] cedar in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as wife.’ But a wild beast that was in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thorn-bush.
• Genesis 3:17Then to Adam the Lord God said, “Because you have listened [attentively] to the voice of your wife, and have eaten [fruit] from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’; The ground is [now] under a curse because of you; In sorrow and toil you shall eat [the fruit] of it All the days of your life.
• Isaiah 7:23And it will come to pass in that day, in every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand silver shekels, there will be briars and thorns.
• Zephaniah 2:9Therefore, as I live,” declares the Lord of hosts, The God of Israel, “Moab will in fact become like Sodom And the sons of Ammon like Gomorrah, A land possessed by nettles and salt pits, And a perpetual desolation. The remnant of My people will plunder them And what is left of My nation will inherit them [as their own].”
• Malachi 1:3but [in comparison with My love for Jacob] I have hated Esau (Edom), and I have made his mountains a wasteland, and have given his inheritance to the jackals of the wilderness.”
• Psalms 72:20The prayers of David son of Jesse are ended.

Commentaries on Job 31:40

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 40Let thistles grow instead of wheat - What the word חוח choach means, which we translate thistles, we cannot tell: but as חח chach seems to mean to hold, catch as a hook, to hitch, it must signify some kind of hooked thorn, like the brier; and this is possibly its meaning. And cockle - באשה bashah, some fetid plant, from באש baash, to stink. In Isaiah 5:2, Isaiah 5:4, we translate it wild grapes; and Bishop Lowth, poisonous berries: but Hasselquist, a…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 40Let thistles grow; - Genesis 3:18. Thistles are valueless; and Job is so confident of entire innocence in regard to this, that he says he would be willing, if he were guilty, to have his whole land overrun with noxious weeds. And cockle - Cockle is a well known herb that gets into wheat or other grain. It has a bluish flower, and small black seed, and is injurious because it tends to discolor the flour. It is not certain by any means, however, that this…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 33-40Verses 33-40 Job clears himself from the charge of hypocrisy. We are loth to confess our faults, willing to excuse them, and to lay the blame upon others. But he that thus covers his sins, shall not prosper, Pr 28:13. He speaks of his courage in what is good, as an evidence of his sincerity in it. When men get estates unjustly, they are justly deprived of comfort from them; it was sown wheat, but shall come up thistles. What men do not come honestly by…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 40let briers grow: Job cursed himself (spoke evil against himself), echoing when God first "cursed" Adam (Genesis 3:17–18; see also Isaiah 7:25; Zephaniah 2:9).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 4040. thistles--or brambles, thorns. cockle--literally, "noxious weeds." The words ... ended--that is, in the controversy with the friends. He spoke in the book afterwards, but not to them. At Job 31:37 would be the regular conclusion in strict art. But Job 31:38-40 are naturally added by one whose mind in agitation recurs to its sense of innocence, even after it has come to the usual stopping point; this takes away the appearance of rhetorical artifice…Read the comment

Topics related to Job 31:40

• Cockle
• Integrity
• Poor
• Temptation
• Thistle

In the dictionaries

• Job
• Bosom
• Bramble
• Cockle
• Instead
• Lift
• Root
• Thistle
• Charm
• Elihu (2)

Commentaries on Job 31

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings