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

38I have not grown crops on land that does not belong to me. The land itself would accuse me if that were true. 39I have always paid for the food that other people have worked to grow. I have never cheated the farmers so that they suffered. If I have ever done any of those things, then may thorn bushes grow in my fields instead of wheat. May weeds grow in my fields instead of barley.’ That is the end of the things that Job said.

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 14:9But King Jehoash of Israel sent this message back to King Amaziah of Judah: ‘In Lebanon, a thorn bush sent this message to a cedar tree: “Please give your daughter to my son, to be his wife.” Then a wild animal of Lebanon came and knocked down the thorn bush. It walked all over it!
• Genesis 3:17Then God said to Adam, ‘You listened to your wife and you did what she said. You ate fruit from the tree after I told you, “You must not eat fruit from this tree.” Because you did that, I will curse the ground. You will have to work very hard to make plants grow in it for your food. It will be like this for your whole life.
• Isaiah 7:23On that day, in every place where there had been 1,000 valuable vines, there will now be only weeds and thorn bushes.
• Zephaniah 2:9The Lord Almighty, Israel's God, says, ‘You can be sure that I live. In the same way, you can also be sure that my people will take everything for themselves. God will destroy Moab as he destroyed Sodom. He will destroy Ammon as he destroyed Gomorrah. After this, the ground will have lots of salt on it. Weeds will grow there. Nobody will build anything there again. My people who are still alive will take for themselves the Ammonites' things and the Moabites' things.’
• Malachi 1:3But I have not loved Esau and his descendants. Instead, I have caused trouble for Esau. I caused Esau's mountains to become a wilderness. Nobody uses that land any longer. Now there are only jackals in the land that belongs to Esau.’
• Psalms 72:20This is the end of the prayers of Jesse's son, David.

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