Job 31:38

“If my land cry against me, etc.] Some think that this verse and (<183139>Job 31:39,40) stand out of their place, and should rather follow after (<183134>Job 31:34); and some place them after (<183125>Job 31:25); and others after (<183108>Job 31:8); but this is the order of them in all copies and versions, as they stand in our Bibles; and here, after Job had expressed his desire to have a hearer and judge of his cause, and his charge exhibited in writing, and his confidence of the issue of it, should it be granted, returns to his former subject, to clear himself from any notorious vice he was suspected of or charged with; and as he had gone through what might respect him in private life, here…”

“Personification. The complaints of the unjustly ousted proprietors are transferred to the lands themselves (Job 31:20; Gen 4:10; Hab 2:11). If I have unjustly acquired lands (Job 24:2; Isa 5:8). furrows--The specification of these makes it likely, he implies in this, "If I paid not the laborer for tillage"; as Job 31:39, "If I paid him not for gathering in the fruits." Thus of the four clauses in Job 31:38-39, the first refers to the same subject as the fourth, the second is connected with the third by introverted parallelism. Compare Jam 5:4, which plainly alludes to this passage: compare "Lord of Sabaoth" with Job 31:26 here.”

“If my land cry against me - This is a new specification of an offence, and an imprecation of an appropriate punishment if he had been guilty of it. Many have supposed that these closing verses have been transferred from their appropriate place by an error of transcribers, and that they should have been inserted between Job 31:23-24 - or in some previous part of the chapter. It is certain that Job 31:35-37 would make an appropriate and impressive close of the chapter, being a solemn appeal to God in reference to all the specifications, or to the general tenor of his life; but there is no authority from the MSS. to make any change in the present arrangement. All the ancient versions insert the…”

“Cry - Because I have gotten it by fraud or violence. Job 31:39”

“31:38 The land was the chief witness to crimes committed upon it (20:27; see Gen 4:10; cp. Jas 5:4).”

“cry: Job 20:27; Hab 2:11; Jam 5:4 complain: Heb. weep, Psa 65:13 Job 31:39”

“38 If my field cry out against me, And all together its furrows weep; 39 If I have devoured its strength without payment, And caused the soul of its possessor to expire: 40 May thistles spring up instead of wheat, And darnel instead of barley. The field which he tills has no reason to cry out on account of violent treatment, nor its furrows to weep over wrong done to them by their lord. (Note: In a similar figure a Rabbinic proverb says (with reference to Mal 2:13), that the altar of God weeps over him who separates himself from the wife of his youth.) אדמה, according to its radical signification, is the covering of earth which fits close upon the body of the earth as its skin, and is drawn…”