Job 31:38

Job 31:38 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain;
• New International Version (NIV)“if my land cries out against me and all its furrows are wet with tears,
• English Standard Version (ESV)"If my land has cried out against me and its furrows have wept together,
• New King James Version (NKJV)“If my land cries out against me, And its furrows weep together;

Context of Job 31:38

36I would certainly carry it on my shoulder and place it on my head like a crown. 37I would tell him the number of my steps and approach him like a prince. “If my land has cried out against me, and its furrows have wept…. 39If I have eaten its produce without paying for it and made its owners breathe their last, 40⌞then⌟ let it grow thistles instead of wheat, and foul-smelling weeds instead of barley.” This is the end of Job’s words.

Job 31:38 word by word

אִם־עָ֭לַי אַדְמָתִ֣י תִזְעָ֑ק וְ֝יַ֗חַד תְּלָמֶ֥יהָ יִבְכָּיֽוּן׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• If my landאֲדָמָה'ădâmâh · land: soilH127
• cryזָעַקzâ‛aq · to cry outH2199
• against me, or that the furrowsתֶּ֫לֶםtelem · furrowH8525
• likewiseיַ֫חַדyachad · unitednessH3162
• thereof complainבָּכָהbâkâh · to weepH1058

Cross-references for Job 31:38

• Job 20:27Heaven exposes his sin. Earth rises up against him.
• Habakkuk 2:11A stone in the wall will cry out. A beam in the roof will answer it.
• James 5:4The wages you refused to pay the people who harvested your fields shout ⌞to God⌟ against you. The Lord of Armies has heard the cries of those who gather the crops.
• Psalms 65:13The pastures are covered with flocks. The valleys are carpeted with grain. All of them shout triumphantly. Indeed, they sing.

Commentaries on Job 31:38

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 38If my land cry - The most careless reader may see that the introduction of this and the two following verses here, disturbs the connection, and that they are most evidently out of their place. Job seems here to refer to that law, Leviticus 25:1-7, by which the Israelites were obliged to give the land rest every seventh year, that the soil might not be too much exhausted by perpetual cultivation, especially in a country which afforded so few advantages to…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 38If my land cry against me - This is a new specification of an offence, and an imprecation of an appropriate punishment if he had been guilty of it. Many have supposed that these closing verses have been transferred from their appropriate place by an error of transcribers, and that they should have been inserted between Job 31:23-24 - or in some previous part of the chapter. It is certain that Job 31:35-37 would make an appropriate and impressive close of…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. 38The land was the main "witness" to the crimes done on it (20:27; see Genesis 4:10; compare James 5:4).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 3838. Personification. The complaints of the unjustly ousted proprietors are transferred to the lands themselves (Job 31:20; Ge 4:10; Ha 2:11). If I have unjustly acquired lands (Job 24:2; Is 5:8). furrows--The specification of these makes it likely, he implies in this, "If I paid not the laborer for tillage"; as Job 31:39, "If I paid him not for gathering in the fruits." Thus of the four clauses in Job 31:38, 39, the first refers to the same subject as the…Read the comment

Topics related to Job 31:38

• Integrity
• Poor
• Temptation

In the dictionaries

• Bosom
• Instead
• Lift
• Root
• Charm
• Cry, Crying
• Furrow
• Job, Book of

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