Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 31:8

[Then] let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.

8. The imprecation.

let my offspring be rooted out ] Rather, let my produce, i. e. what springs out of that which I have planted or sown; comp. Lev 26:16; Deu 28:33.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

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 tse’etsa’iym – means properly shoots; that is, what springs out of anything – as the earth, or a tree – from yatsa’ – 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.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 8. Let 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 1:18-19.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Let strangers enjoy the fruit of my labours, according to Gods curse, Lev 26:16; Deu 28:30.

My offspring; as this word is used, Job 5:25; 27:14. Or rather, my increase, or growths, or sprouts, i.e. all my plants, and fruits, and improvements. For,

1. So the word properly signifies.

2. So this latter branch of the verse explains the former, as is most frequent in this and some other books of Scripture.

3. He had not now any children to be rooted out.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

8. Apodosis to Job 31:5;Job 31:7; the curses which heimprecates on himself, if he had done these things (Lev 26:16;Amo 9:14; Psa 128:2).

offspringrather, “whatI plant,” my harvests.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

[Then] let me sow, and another eat,…. If what he had before said was not true; but he had turned out of the way of righteousness, and walked after the sight of his eyes, and the mammon of unrighteousness cleaved to his hands; then he wishes might sow his fields, and another enjoy the increase of them, which is one of God’s judgments threatened unto the wicked and disobedient, Le 26:16;

let my offspring be rooted out; but Job had no offspring or children at this time to be rooted out or destroyed; they were all destroyed already; some think therefore that this imprecation was made by him in the time of his prosperity, though here repeated as it was then, he made a covenant with his eyes; but then this might have been improved against him and retorted on him, that so it was according to his wish; and therefore he must have been guilty of the sin he would have purged himself from; others suppose that he refers to the future, and to the offspring he hoped to have hereafter; and when he should have them, wishes they may be rooted out, if he had done what he denies he had; but it does not appear that Job had any hope at all of being restored to his former state of prosperity, and of being possessed of a family and substance again, but the reverse. Gussetius a will have it, that he means his grandchildren; those indeed are sometimes called a man’s children, and may propriety be said to be his offspring, they springing frown him; and it is possible, that, as his sons were settled from him, they were married and had children; but this is not certain, or, if they had any, that these were not destroyed with them; wherefore it is best to take the word b in its first and literal sense, for what springs out of the earth, herbs, plants, and trees, as in Isa 42:5; so Ben Gersom and Bar Tzemach, and which best agrees with the phrase of being “rooted out”, and with what goes before; that as he had wished that which was sown in his fields might be eaten up by another, so what was planted and grew up in his gardens, orchards, vineyards, and olive yards, and the like, might be quite rooted out and destroyed; if he was not the man he declared himself to be, or had wronged any of their goods and property, then this would have been a just retaliation of him.

a Comment. Ebr. p. 338. b “germina mea”, Beza, Montanus, Mercerus, Drusius, Michaelis, Schultens.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

8. Let me sow, etc. A proverbial phrase. See Joh 4:37.

Offspring Produce of the land.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Job 31:8 [Then] let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.

Ver. 8. Then let me sow, and another eat ] God loves to retaliate; and let him do so to me, according to that he hath threatened, Deu 28:30 , &c., and as he executed upon Laban, Nabal, Saul, Haman, others. The Greeks have a proverb,

A ’ .

Some sow that which others reap. This Job wisheth may befall, if he had been oppressive and injurious, as Eliphaz had wrongfully accused him, Job 22:6 .

Yea, let my offspring be rooted out ] Or, Let that which I have planted be plucked up by the roots. It is commonly seen that oppressors and unconscionable persons procure their own ruth and ruin; and he that gathereth the fruits of another man’s tree pulleth his own up by the roots.

O , .

Those who spoil houses which they builded not, Job 20:19 , shall, when they cease to spoil, be made a spoil; and when they have made an end of dealing treacherously, be treacherously dealt with themselves, Isa 13:1 .

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

let me: Job 5:5, Job 24:6, Lev 26:16, Deu 28:30-33, Deu 28:38, Deu 28:51, Jdg 6:3-6, Mic 6:15

let my: Job 5:4, Job 15:30, Job 18:19, Psa 109:13

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

31:8 [Then] let me sow, and let another {f} eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.

(f) According to the curse of the law, De 28:33.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes