then may another eat what I have sown, and may my crops be uprooted.
Parallel translations
- WEB then let me sow, and let another eat. Yes, 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.
- NKJV Then let me sow, and another eat; Yes, let my harvest be rooted out.
- NASB Let me sow and another eat, And let my crops be uprooted.
- NLT then let someone else eat the crops I have planted. Let all that I have planted be uprooted.
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 invokes a curse: if he has sinned thus, let another eat what he sows and let his crops be uprooted. He stakes his livelihood on his innocence.
Overview
Job completes the oath of verses 5-7 by accepting that, if guilty, he should lose the fruit of his labor to others and see his harvest destroyed. This solemn self-curse reflects the seriousness with which he holds his integrity. The loss of one's labor as a consequence of sin echoes the curse on the ground in Eden, while the gospel promises that in Christ the curse is reversed and the believer's labor is not in vain.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Mic 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.
- Lev 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 in vain, because your enemies will eat it.
- Deut 28:38You will sow much seed in the field but harvest little, because the locusts will consume it.
- Judg 6:3–6Whenever the Israelites would plant their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and other people of the east would come up and invade them,
- Ps 109:13May his descendants be cut off; may their name be blotted out from the next generation.
- Deut 28:51They will eat the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain or new wine or oil, no calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks, until they have caused you to perish.
- Job 15:30He will not escape from the darkness; the flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God’s mouth will carry him away.
- Deut 28:30–33You will be pledged in marriage to a woman, but another man will violate her. You will build a house but will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but will not enjoy its fruit.
- Job 18:19He has no offspring or posterity among his people, no survivor where he once lived.
- Job 24:6They gather fodder in the fields and glean the vineyards of the wicked.
- Job 5:4–5His sons are far from safety, crushed in court without a defender.
- Job 20:18He must return the fruit of his labor without consuming it; he cannot enjoy the profits of his trading.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 31:8 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.