Job 31:39
in Job 31if I have devoured its produce without payment or broken the spirit of its tenants,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, Or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life:
KJV
If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life:
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This verse in Job 31
Commentary
8 notes on this verseIf I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have afflicted the soul of the tillers thereof. [ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION] For to 'eat the fruit of the land without money' is to receive indeed our charges from the Church, but not to yield to that Church the price of preaching. Of which same preaching it is said by the voice of the Creator, Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
This site's exposition
my land cries out against me
on Job 31:38-40
The oath “if my land cries out against me” calls the soil as a witness, the figure Gill reads with Genesis 4:10. “let briers grow instead of wheat” calls down the curse of Genesis 3:18. “Thus conclude the words of Job” marks, as Henry notes, that the defense is finished.
This site's exposition
devoured its produce without payment
Barnes gives the Hebrew for produce as strength, the yield of a strong soil. Gill reads without payment as without silver, the money of that age. Aquinas takes the tenants as workers denied their wages.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
In another way excessive desire for possessions is shown when a man denies the price of their labor to his workers, and so he says, "If I have eaten his yield without payment," without money paid the workers, "and I have afflicted the soul of …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money,.... Or, "the strength thereof without silver" (b); see Gen 4:12, silver being the money chiefly in use in those times.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
If I have eaten the fruits thereof - Margin, strength. The strength of the earth is that which the earth produces or which is the result of its strength. We speak now of a “strong soil “ - meaning that it is capable of bearing much. Without money - Hebrew “without silver “ - silver being the principal circulating medium in early times. The meaning here is, “without paying for it;” either without having paid for the land, or for the labor. “Or have caused the owners thereof.” Margin, the soul of the owners thereof to expire, or breathe out.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
lose . . . life--not literally, but "harassed to death"; until he gave me up his land gratis [MAURER]; as in Jud 16:16; "suffered him to languish" by taking away his means of living [UMBREIT] (1Ki 21:19).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money - I have never been that narrow-minded man who, through a principle of covetousness, exhausts his land, putting himself to no charges, by labor and manure, to strengthen it; or defrauds those of their wages who were employed under him. If I have eaten the fruits of it, I have cultivated it well to produce those fruits; and this has not been without money, for I have gone to expenses on the soil, and remunerated the laborers. Or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life - Coverdale translates, Yee yf I have greved eny of the plowmen. They have not panted in labor without due recompense.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| כֹּ֭חָהּ | kochah | produce its | H3581 → | 126 times |
| אָכַ֣לְתִּי | ʾakhalti | I have eaten | H398 → | 810 times |
| בְלִי־ | veli- | not | H1097 → | 58 times |
| כָ֑סֶף | khasef | money | H3701 → | 403 times |
| וְנֶ֖פֶשׁ | venefesh | and [the] life of | H5315 → | 754 times |
| בְּעָלֶ֣יהָ | bealeiha | owners its | H1167 → | |
| הִפָּֽחְתִּי׃ | hipacheti | I have caused to breathe out | H5301 → | 12 times |
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
כֹּ֭חָהּproduce its
kochahH3581 →126 times
אָכַ֣לְתִּיI have eaten
ʾakhaltiH398 →810 times
בְלִי־not
veli-H1097 →58 times
כָ֑סֶףmoney
khasefH3701 →403 times
וְנֶ֖פֶשׁand [the] life of
venefeshH5315 →754 times
בְּעָלֶ֣יהָowners its
bealeihaH1167 →
הִפָּֽחְתִּי׃I have caused to breathe out
hipachetiH5301 →12 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
James 5:4Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
it leads to
- Leviticus 19:13
You must not defraud your neighbor or rob him. You must not withhold until morning the wages due a hired hand.
- Jeremiah 22:13
“Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms without justice, who makes his countrymen serve without pay, and fails to pay their wages,
- Deuteronomy 24:14–15
Do not oppress a hired hand who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother or a foreigner residing in one of your towns.
- Romans 9:29
It is just as Isaiah foretold: “Unless the Lord of Hosts had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.”
- Malachi 3:5
“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud…
- Leviticus 19:13
Through
Proverbs 1:19Such is the fate of all who are greedy, whose unjust gain takes the lives of its possessors.
it leads to
- Habakkuk 2:9
Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain, to place his nest on high and escape the hand of disaster!
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 15:27
He who is greedy for unjust gain brings trouble on his household, but he who hates bribes will live.
- 2 Peter 2:3
In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you with deceptive words. The longstanding verdict against them remains in force, and their destruction does not sleep.
- Habakkuk 2:9
Where this verse is studied
About Job
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXII; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.