Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.
The verse marks the end of Job's words, concluding his defense of his conduct with an imprecation that weeds replace his wheat and barley crops. It closes his part in the discussion with his three friends, who condemned him as self-righteous while he believed they judged him unjustly. That debate between Job and his three friends about his afflictions spans Job 4-31. It also marks the close of the poetic arguments between Job and his three friends, while the book's closing statement is in prose.
In that defense Job maintains his integrity, knowing he has committed no open sins against God. He challenges his friends to find any moral stain in him. He appeals for God's judgment if any wrongdoing is found in his conduct, closing with the imprecation of a ruined harvest.
Job 31 is his protestation of integrity. It gives stronger proof of what makes a man honest than merely paying debts to fellow men and owing no man anything. Freedom from liability to others does not of itself make a man honest, because honesty includes integrity before God and payment of what is owed to Him.
The verse marks the end of Job's words, concluding his defense of his conduct with an imprecation that weeds replace his wheat and barley crops. It closes his part in the discussion with his three friends, who condemned him as self-righteous while he believed they judged him unjustly. That debate between Job and his three friends about his afflictions spans Job 4-31. It also marks the close of the poetic arguments between Job and his three friends, while the book's closing statement is in prose.
In that defense Job maintains his integrity, knowing he has committed no open sins against God. He challenges his friends to find any moral stain in him. He appeals for God's judgment if any wrongdoing is found in his conduct, closing with the imprecation of a ruined harvest.
Job 31 is his protestation of integrity. It gives stronger proof of what makes a man honest than merely paying debts to fellow men and owing no man anything. Freedom from liability to others does not of itself make a man honest, because honesty includes integrity before God and payment of what is owed to Him.