Job 31:40
in Job 31then let briers grow instead of wheat and stinkweed instead of barley.” Thus conclude the words of Job.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Let thistles grow instead of wheat, And cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.
KJV
Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.
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This verse in Job 31
Commentary
9 notes on this verseLet 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.
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
briers grow instead of wheat
Clarke traces the Hebrew for briers to a root meaning to catch like a hook, some kind of hooked thorn. Henry sets the worst of weeds against the best of grains. Land gained unjustly yields its owner no comfort.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XXII · Written before 604.
proposed
Let the thistle grow for me instead of wheat, and the thorn instead of barley. As though he said in plain words; 'If I have done aught unjust towards those under me, if I have exacted the debts due to me, and have not myself paid what I owed, if I have envied others the executing of good practice, for the good things which refresh for ever and ever, may evil things that sting be repaid me in the Judgment.'
Now it is just that one who desires superfluous and uncommon profit loses even what is due and common. So he says, "in place of wheat," sown for the nourishment of men, "let nettles grow for me," which not only are useless, but prickly. "And …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
): "If I have got my estate unjustly, let thistles grow instead of wheat, the worst of weeds instead of the best of grains." When men get estates unjustly they are justly deprived of the comfort of them, and disappointed in their expectations from them. They sow their land, but they sow not that body that shall be. It was sown wheat, but shall come up thistles.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
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. Hence the transposition by EICHORN of Job 31:38-40 to follow Job 31:25 is quite unwarranted.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Let thistles grow; - Gen 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 is intended here. The margin is, noisome weeds. The Hebrew word באשׁה bo'shâh is from באשׁ bâ'ash, “to have a bad smell, to stink,” and was given to the weed here referred to on that account, compare Isa 34:3. The cockle however, has no unpleasant odor, and the word here probably means noxious weeds. So it is rendered by Herder and by Noyes. The Septuagint has βάτος batos, bramble; the Vulgate, spina, thorn; Prof. Lee, prunus sylvestris, “a bramble resembling the hawthorn;” Schultens, labrusca, wild vine. The words of Job are ended - That is, in the present speech or argument; his discussions with his friends are closed. He spoke afterward, as recorded in the subsequent chapters, but not in controversy with them. He had vindicated his character, sustained his positions, and they had nothing to reply. The remainder of the book is occupied mainly with the speech of Elihu, and with the solemn and sublime address which God himself makes.
The words behind it
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| תַּ֤חַת | tachat | in place of | H8478 → | 505 times |
| חִטָּ֨ה׀ | chitah | wheat | H2406 → | |
| יֵ֥צֵא | yetze' | let it come forth | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| ח֗וֹחַ | choach | thorn[s] | H2336 → | |
| וְתַֽחַת־ | vetachat- | and in place of | H8478 → | 505 times |
| שְׂעֹרָ֥ה | seorah | barley | H8184 → | |
| בָאְשָׁ֑ה | vaeshah | foul weed[s] | H890 → | |
| תַּ֝֗מּוּ | tamu | they are finished | H8552 → | |
| דִּבְרֵ֥י | divrei | [the] words of | H1697 → | 1440 times |
| אִיּֽוֹב׃ פ | ʾiyov | Job | H347 → | 58 times |
תַּ֤חַתin place of
tachatH8478 →505 times
חִטָּ֨ה׀wheat
chitahH2406 →
יֵ֥צֵאlet it come forth
yetze'H3318 →1067 times
ח֗וֹחַthorn[s]
choachH2336 →
וְתַֽחַת־and in place of
vetachat-H8478 →505 times
שְׂעֹרָ֥הbarley
seorahH8184 →
בָאְשָׁ֑הfoul weed[s]
vaeshahH890 →
תַּ֝֗מּוּthey are finished
tamuH8552 →
דִּבְרֵ֥י[the] words of
divreiH1697 →1440 times
אִיּֽוֹב׃ פJob
ʾiyovH347 →58 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
Zephaniah 2:9Therefore, as surely as I live,” declares the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, “surely Moab will be like Sodom and the Ammonites like Gomorrah—a place of weeds and salt pits, a perpetual…
it leads to
- Isaiah 15:1–9
This is the burden against Moab: Ar in Moab is ruined, destroyed in a night! Kir in Moab is devastated, destroyed in a night!
- Isaiah 11:14
They will swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines to the west; together they will plunder the sons of the east. They will lay their hands on Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites…
- Deuteronomy 29:23
All its soil will be a burning waste of sulfur and salt, unsown and unproductive, with no plant growing on it, just like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the…
- Isaiah 25:10
For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain. But Moab will be trampled in his place as straw is trodden into the dung pile.
- Isaiah 15:1–9
Through
Psalms 72:20Thus conclude the prayers of David son of Jesse.
it leads to
- 2 Samuel 23:1
These are the last words of David: “The oracle of David son of Jesse, the oracle of the man raised on high, the one anointed by the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist…
- 2 Samuel 23:1
Through
Isaiah 7:23And on that day, in every place that had a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels of silver, only briers and thorns will be found.
it leads to
- Isaiah 5:6
I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and thorns and briers will grow up. I will command the clouds that rain shall not fall on it.”
- Isaiah 5:6
Through
Malachi 1:3but Esau I have hated, and I have made his mountains a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”
it leads to
- Joel 3:19
Egypt will become desolate, and Edom a desert wasteland, because of the violence done to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood.
- Obadiah 1:10
Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame and cut off forever.
- Joel 3:19
Where this verse is studied
About Job
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
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.