Job 31:8
in Job 31then may another eat what I have sown, and may my crops be uprooted.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Then let me sow, and let another eat; Yea, let the produce of my field be rooted out.
KJV
Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.
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This verse in Job 31
Commentary
7 notes on this verseLet me sow, and let another eat - Let me be plagued both in my circumstances and in my family. My offspring be rooted out - It has already appeared probable that all Job’s children were not destroyed in the fall of the house mentioned Job 1:18, Job 1:19.
This site's exposition
If my steps have turned from the path
on Job 31:7-8
Job extends the covenant of verse 1 to the whole body. The curse form Job uses throughout the chapter follows, calling down on himself the kind of loss he has already suffered.
This site's exposition
may another eat what I have sown
Aquinas finds the penalty fitted to the fault. A man who takes what belongs to another should see another eat what he has sown. Barnes calls the wording a common expression, and Clarke takes the curse to reach both his goods and his family.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
Now it is just that if one takes the goods of another, he should also have his goods despoiled by others, and so he says, "let me sow and another reap," as if to say: I have stolen another's goods, let others take my goods …
Then let me sow, and let another eat; let my offspring be rooted out. After the manner of Sacred Revelation we call it to 'sow' to preach the words of life. Thus it is hence the Prophet says, Blessed are ye that sow upon all waters. For the preachers of Holy Church he saw to 'sow upon all waters' because they bestowed the words of life, like grains of heavenly bread, upon all peoples far and wide. But to 'eat' is to be filled to the full with good works.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Then let me sow, and another eat,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Then let me sow, and let another eat - This is the imprecation which he invokes, in case he had been guilty in this respect. He consented to sow his fields, and let others enjoy the harvest. The expression used here is common in the Scriptures to denote insecurity of property or calamity in general; see Lev 26:16: “And ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it;” compare Deu 28:30; Amo 9:13-14. Yea, let my offspring be rooted out - Or, rather, “Let what I plant be rooted up.” So Umbreit, Noyes, Schultens, Rosenmuller, Herder, and Lee understand it. There is no evidence that he here alludes to his children, for the connection does not demand it, nor does the word used here require such an interpretation. The word צאצאים tse'ĕtsâ'iym - means properly shoots; that is, what springs out of anything - as the earth, or a tree - from יצא yâtsâ' - to go out, to go forth. It is applied to the productions of the earth in Isa 42:5; Isa 34:1, and to children or posterity, in Isa 22:24; Isa 61:9; Isa 65:23; Job 5:25; Job 21:8. Here it refers evidently to the productions of the earth; and the idea is, that if he had been guilty of dishonesty or fraud in his dealings, he wished that all that he had sowed should be rooted up.
The words behind it
5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֶ֭זְרְעָה | ʾezreah | let me sow | H2232 → | |
| וְאַחֵ֣ר | veacher | and another | H312 → | 166 times |
| יֹאכֵ֑ל | yokhel | let him eat | H398 → | 810 times |
| וְֽצֶאֱצָאַ֥י | vetzeetzaai | and produce<s> my | H6631 → | 11 times |
| יְשֹׁרָֽשׁוּ׃ | yeshorashu | let them be rooted up | H8327 → | 8 times |
אֶ֭זְרְעָהlet me sow
ʾezreahH2232 →
וְאַחֵ֣רand another
veacherH312 →166 times
יֹאכֵ֑לlet him eat
yokhelH398 →810 times
וְֽצֶאֱצָאַ֥יand produce<s> my
vetzeetzaaiH6631 →11 times
יְשֹׁרָֽשׁוּ׃let them be rooted up
yeshorashuH8327 →8 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
Leviticus 26:16then this is what I will do to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting disease, and fever that will destroy your sight and drain your life. You will sow your seed…
it leads to
- Micah 6:15
You will sow but not reap; you will press olives but not anoint yourselves with oil; you will tread grapes but not drink the wine.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 5:17
They will devour your harvest and food; they will consume your sons and daughters; they will eat up your flocks and herds; they will feed on your vines and fig trees. With the sword…
- 1 Samuel 2:33
And every one of you that I do not cut off from My altar, your eyes will fail and your heart will grieve. All your descendants will die by the sword of men.
- Micah 6:15
Through
Deuteronomy 28:38You will sow much seed in the field but harvest little, because the locusts will consume it.
it leads to
- Haggai 1:6
You have planted much but harvested little. You eat but never have enough. You drink but never have your fill. You put on clothes but never get warm. You earn wages to put into…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Joel 1:4
What the devouring locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust has left, the young locust has eaten; and what the young locust has left, the destroying locust has eaten.
- Haggai 1:6
Through
Micah 6:15You will sow but not reap; you will press olives but not anoint yourselves with oil; you will tread grapes but not drink the wine.
it leads to
- Zephaniah 1:13
Their wealth will be plundered and their houses laid waste. They will build houses but not inhabit them, and plant vineyards but never drink their wine.
- Amos 5:11
Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact from him a tax of grain, you will never live in the stone houses you have built; you will never drink the wine from the…
- Zephaniah 1:13
Through
Job 18:19He has no offspring or posterity among his people, no survivor where he once lived.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 22:30
This is what the LORD says: “Enroll this man as childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime. None of his descendants will prosper to sit on the throne of David or…
- Jeremiah 22:30
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); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXI; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.