Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.
Parallel translations
- WEB then let me sow, and let another eat. Yes, let the produce of my field be rooted out.
- BSB then may another eat what I have sown, and may my crops be uprooted.
- 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 6:15Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine.
- Lev 26:16I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
- Deut 28:38Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it.
- Judg 6:3–6And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the east, even they came up against them;
- Ps 109:13Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.
- Deut 28:51And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee.
- Job 15:30He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.
- Deut 28:30–33Thou shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her: thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt not dwell therein: thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not gather the grapes thereof.
- Job 18:19He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings.
- Job 24:6They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.
- Job 5:4–5His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them.
- Job 20:18That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: according to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein.
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 31:8 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.