if my land cries out against me and its furrows weep together,
Parallel translations
- WEB If my land cries out against me, and its furrows weep together;
- KJV If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain;
- NKJV “If my land cries out against me, And its furrows weep together;
- NASB ¶“If my land cries out against me, And its furrows weep together;
- NLT “If my land accuses me and all its furrows cry out together,
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Job calls down a curse if his land cries out against him and its furrows weep together. He swears he never wronged the very ground he farmed.
Overview
Job invokes judgment if his fields could testify against him for injustice, picturing the land itself crying out and its furrows mourning over wrongdoing. This personification recalls how the ground bore witness against Cain. Job's concern for justice even in the use of his land reflects a thorough righteousness, and the groaning of creation under injustice anticipates its longing for the redemption secured in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Hab 2:11For the stones will cry out from the wall, and the rafters will echo it from the woodwork.
- Jas 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.
- Job 20:27The heavens will expose his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him.
- Ps 65:13The pastures are clothed with flocks, and the valleys are decked with grain. They shout in triumph; indeed, they sing.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 31:38 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.