Job Chapter 31
As Job became more forceful in his pursuit of being cleared of false accusations, he intensified the claim that he was innocent, comparatively speaking, and demanded justice. In situations where an individual was innocent, he would attest to it by taking an oath before the king or a deity. This procedure found among Job’s neighboring nations was often protocol for court procedures. The repeated “If … let” statements amount to the terms of the oath: “If” tells what Job might have done wrong; “let” describes a curse which could result. He accepted the curses (the “let” statements throughout the chapter), if he deserved them. This represented Job’s last attempt to defend himself before both God and man. In terms of purity (verse 1), sin in general (verses 2-3), truth (verse 5), covetousness (verse 7), marital faithfulness (verse 9), equity (verse 13), compassion (verses 16-21); materialism (verses 24-25), false religion (verses 26-27), love for enemies and strangers (verses 29-32), secret sin (verses 33-34), and business relations (verses 38-40). Job had no pattern of sin. He asked God to answer him (verse 35), and to explain why he suffered. Finally, he appeals to God to be the judge: if what he has claimed for himself is not true, let God pronounce the consequences (verses 35-40).
Job 31:1 “I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?”
“I made a covenant with mine eyes”: He spoke here of purity toward women (Prov. 6:25; Matt. 5:28).
Much temptation begins with gazing intensely at something you desire (Psalm 119:37; 1 John 2:16). Job’s covenant” commitment to refrain from lustful desire reveals his refusal to consider adultery or the acquisition of other women as part of a harem (31:9-12). He was aware that adultery can be committed with the heart as well as with the body (Matt. 5:27-28).
Job had made a covenant with himself never to look upon a woman with lust in his eyes. It appears from all accounts, that Job was a faithful husband to his wife. He was not an adulterer. This was something he had promised himself.
Verses 2-4: Though Job protested the accusations and logic of his friends, these words strongly suggest he actually held to the retribution principle as much as they did (Prov. 5:21).
Job 31:2 “For what portion of God [is there] from above? And [what] inheritance of the Almighty from on high?”
For what portion of God is there from above? The meaning seems to be, “For what portion in God would there be to me from above, if I were so to act?” I.e. if I were secretly to nurse and indulge my lusts. Impurity, perhaps, more than any other sin, cuts off fellowship with God, who is “of purer eyes than to behold iniquity” (Hab. 1:13).
“And what inheritance of the Almighty from on high!” What should I inherit, i.e. what should I receive, from on high, if I were so sinful? The next verse gives the answer.
Job was saying that there would have been no inheritance from God if he had been such a man. One of the worst sins in God’s sight, is adultery. Job was proclaiming his innocence. Had he committed such a sin, he would not have expected God to bless him.
Job 31:3 “[Is] not destruction to the wicked? and a strange [punishment] to the workers of iniquity?”
It is even to such wicked men, who live in the sin of fornication, and make it their business to ensnare and corrupt virgins. And which is another reason why Job was careful to avoid that sin. Wickedness of every sort is the cause of destruction. Destruction and misery are in the ways of wicked men. And their wicked ways lead unto it, and issue in it. Even destruction of soul and body in hell, which is swift and sudden, and will be everlasting. This is laid up for wicked men among the treasures of God’s wrath, and they are reserved that, and there is no way of deliverance from it but by Christ.
“And a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity”: The iniquity of fornication and whoredom (Prov. 30:20); who make it their business to commit it, and live in a continued course of uncleanness and other sins. A punishment, something strange, unusual, and uncommon, as the filthy venereal disease in this world, and everlasting burnings in another. Or “alienation”, a state of estrangement and banishment from the presence of God and Christ, and from the society of the saints, for all eternity (see Matt. 25:46).
The inheritance of the wicked was destruction of body, soul, and spirit. Those who sinned could expect the punishment from God that they deserved. This was the reason that Job did not understand the punishment that had come to him. He had not sinned as a wicked man.
Job 31:4 “Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?”
That is, God, who is above, and the Almighty that dwells on high. He looks down from heaven, and beholds all the ways and works, the steps and motions, of the children of men. There is no darkness where the workers of iniquity can hide themselves. The fornicator and adulterer choose the night season for the commission of their sin, fancying no eye sees them; but they cannot escape the eye of God, who is omniscient.
Job knew that nothing good or bad escaped the eyes of the LORD. God knew that Job was a man after His own heart. The statement above was in the form of a question. It is as if Job was saying, “Since he knows my every step, why am I being punished”?
Job 31:5 “If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit;”
Conversed in the world, or dealt with men, with lying, falsehood, or hypocrisy, as the word vanity is often used.
“Or if my foot hath hasted to deceit”: If, when I had an opportunity of enriching myself by wronging others, I have readily and greedily complied with it.
Verses 6-40: Job understood that God weighs on an honest set of scales, and if he was guilty of any wrongdoing, he was willing to face the consequences. He would even let another man sleep with his “wife” if he himself were guilty of adultery.
Job 31:6 “Let me be weighed in an even balance that God may know mine integrity.”
I desire nothing more than to have my heart and life weighed in just balances, and searched out by the all-seeing God.
“That God may know”: Or, and he will know (upon search he will find out: which is spoken of God after the manner of men).
“Mine integrity”: So this is an appeal to God to be witness of his sincerity.
Job was asking to be weighed in the balance by God. If he had committed some sin that he was unaware of, the balance would still tip in his favor for all of the good he had done.
Job 31:7 “If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands;”
If; i.e., I have at any time knowingly and voluntarily departed from the way of thy commandments, as made known to me either by godly men, or by thy law written in my heart. Then let the consequences follow that are mentioned in the next verse. Or if:
“Mine heart hath walked after mine eyes”: And if consequently any blot hath cleaved to mine hands; i.e. if I have been guilty of any plain act of sin. It is to be remembered that Job has the testimony of God himself to the fact that he was “a perfect and an upright man, one that feared God, and eschewed evil (Job 2:3).
“And if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands”: Any unjust gain. If I have had or have in my hands, or possession, any goods, gotten from others by fraud or violence, which would be a great scandal and a blot to my reputation.
Job 31:8 “[Then] let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.”
Let strangers enjoy the fruit of my labors, according to God’s curse (Lev. 26:16; Deut. 28:30).
“Yea, lot my offspring be rooted out”: Rather, my produce, or the produce of my field (see the Revised Version).
Job was willing for God to test him and see if he had done any of these evil things. If he had done those things, he was willing to pay the penalty for the sin he committed. He wanted God to examine him and see where he had failed. Job said if I have lusted with mine eyes, then let me grow a crop and others eat it to punish me. He would even have been willing for his children to be disinherited and run off the land, if he had committed the sin of lust.
Job 31:9 “If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or [if] I have laid wait at my neighbor’s door;”
Rather, enticed, or allured unto a woman. If, that is, I have suffered myself at any time to be enticed by the wiles of a “strange woman” (Prov. 5:3; 6:24), and have so far yielded as to go after her.
“And if I have laid wait at my neighbor’s door”: Watching for an opportunity to enter unseen, while the goodman is away (Prov. 7:19). Job is not speaking of what he has done, but of what men may suspect him of having done.
Job 31:10 “[Then] let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.”
I.e. “let the wife of my bosom be brought so low as to be compelled to do the servile work of grinding the corn in the household of another woman.” The condition of the female slaves who ground the corn was regarded as the lowest point in domestic slavery (see Exodus 11:5; Isa. 47:2).
“And let others bow down upon her. Let them, i.e., claim the master’s right, and reduce her to extreme degradation. Another modest expression of a filthy action; whereby the Holy Ghost gives us a pattern and a precept to avoid not only unclean actions, but also all immodest expressions.
Job said if he had been deceived by a woman or had coveted anything that belonged to his neighbor, he would let another have his wife. Job knew that he had never gone in to a strange woman. He knew he had never coveted anything that belonged to another.
Job 31:11 “For this [is] a heinous crime; yea, it [is] an iniquity [to be punished by] the judges.”
Namely, adultery, whether committed by choice and design, or by the solicitation of a woman. Yea, it is an iniquity to be punished.
“Hebrew, an iniquity of the judge”: Which it belongs to them to take cognizance of, and to punish, even with death. And that not only by the Law of Moses, but even by the law of nature, as appears from the known laws and customs of the heathen nations.
Job 31:12 “For it [is] a fire [that] consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.”
It is a thing which brings down the wrath of God upon a man, so that “a fire is kindled in his anger, which shall burn unto the lowest hell” (Deut. 32:22). Compare the sentence on David for his great transgression (2 Sam. 12:9-12).
“And would root out all mine increase”: I.e. “would destroy all my estate;” either by leading me to waste my substance upon my companion in sin, or by bringing down God’s judgments upon me to my temporal ruin.
To lust for any woman except his own wife, Job said would be a terrible crime. He knew that kind of sin burned within a person, until it totally destroyed him. Job was being accused of this sort of thing, but he knew he was innocent and he knew God knew he was innocent also.
Verses 13-15: “Did not he that made me in the womb make him?” Is a statement of fundamental human equality. Job presented an impartial and just managerial record. He said he had not mistreated any of his employees because he knew he answered to the Maker of all (Prov. 14:31; 22:2).
Job 31:13 “If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me;”
If I used my power over him to overthrow him or his just rights. And seeing it is known that I was so just and kind to them, over whom I had such unlimited power, it is not probable that I should be guilty of such cruelty to others, as you impute to me.
“When they contended with me”: Either for imposing heavier burdens than they could bear; or for not providing for them those supports which their nature and necessity required, or for any other plausible cause. I heard them patiently and indifferently, and did them right even against myself, if by any misinformation or passion I had done them any injury.
Job 31:14 “What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?”
Job regards God as the Avenger and Champion of all the oppressed. If he had been harsh and cruel to his dependents, he would have provoked God’s anger, and God would assuredly “rise up” one day to punish. What then, could he (Job), do? What but submit in silence? When he visits, what shall I answer him? There could be no valid defense. The slave was still a man, a brother; God’s creature, equally with his master.
Job had compassion on the poor and on his servants as well. He had never mistreated any of them. Job was saying if he had mistreated his servants, he could expect no better from God, whose servant he was.
Job 31:15 “Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?”
God “hath made of one Mood all nations of men,” and all individual’s “to dwell on the face of the earth” (Acts 17:26). All have rights in a certain sense, equal rights. All are entitled to just treatment, to kind treatment, to merciful treatment. Job is before his age in recognizing the substantial equality of the slave with the freeman, which otherwise was scarcely taught by any until the promulgation of the gospel (1 Tim. 6:2; Phil. 1:16).
Job was saying that all men were created by the same God. He was saying in the sight of God, one man does not differ from another. God is no respecter of persons.
Verses 16-23: Job gave God permission to do whatever He wanted, even taking his limbs, if he deserved it for mistreating the “poor.”
Job 31:16 “If I have withheld the poor from [their] desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;”
If I have denied them what they desired of me, either in justice or from necessity. For he was under no obligation to grant their vain or inordinate desires.
“Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail”: With tedious expectation of my justice or charity. I durst neither deny nor delay my help, when they needed or required it.
Eliphaz had accused Job of this very thing, and Job had denied it. In fact, Job did the opposite. He helped the poor and the widow.
Job 31:17 “Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;”
Without communicating part of my provisions or property to the poor, as it follows.
“And the fatherless hath not eaten thereof”: This one kind of necessitous persons is put for all the rest. Job is most large upon these heads of doing justice to the widows and fatherless, and relieving the poor, because Eliphaz had most particularly accused him in these respects.
Job had shared his food with those less fortunate than himself. That was one of the good memories he had of his days before the calamity came upon him.
Job 31:18 “(For from my youth he was brought up with me, as [with] a father, and I have guided her from my mother’s womb;)”
I.e. I have always, so long as I can remember, protected the orphan and done my best to help the widow. It has been my habit from my earliest years so to act. The language is exaggerated; but it had, no doubt, a basis of fact to rest upon. Job was brought up in these principles.
It appears that Job had helped the widow, orphan, and the poor from his earliest years. He had been trained this way as a child. He did not separate himself from these people, but saw their needs and provided for them.
Job 31:19 “If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;”
He turns to another virtue of the same general class, that of providing for the poor. The meaning is clear, that he had always assisted the poor and needy.
“Or any poor without covering”: Without clothing sufficient to cover himself, and keep warm. Job had seen such people, but he did not leave them in such a condition. He saw them, and had compassion on them, and clothed them.
Job 31:20 “If his loins have not blessed me, and [if] he were [not] warmed with the fleece of my sheep;”
Which were girded and covered with garments he gave him. Which, as often as he put on and girded his loins with, put him in mind of his generous benefactor. And this prompted him to send up an ejaculatory wish to heaven, that all happiness and blessedness might attend him, who had so comfortably clothed him (Job 29:13).
“And if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep”: Clothed, i.e., with a garment spun from wool yielded by my own sheep. A great sheikh like Job would keep in store many such garments, ready to be given to such as were naked or poorly clad, when they came under his observation (Isa. 58:7).
We see from this, that Job would even give fleece from his sheep to clothe those who had nothing to wear.
Job 31:21 “If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:”
To smite him with the fist of wickedness, as the phrase is (Isa. 58:4). To bring him to the judgment seat, that under color of justice I might take away his right. As powerful oppressors had done, or in any way threaten, injure, or crush him.
“When I saw my help in the gate”: When I understood my advantage against him, and that I could influence the judges to do what I pleased.
Job 31:22 “[Then] let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.”
With which the upper part of it is connected; let it be disjointed from it, or rot and drop off from it. A dreadful calamity this, to lose an arm or the use of it, to have it fall off immediately, as a judgment from God, and in just retaliation for lifting up a hand or arm against the fatherless.
The meaning here is, that he wished that his arm should be broken at the elbow, or the forearm be separated from the upper arm, if he were guilty of the sins which he had specified. There is allusion, probably, and there is great force and propriety in the allusion, to what he had said in (Job 31:2) “If his arm had been lifted up against an orphan, he prayed that it might fall powerless.”
This was a very drastic statement for Job to make, but he knew he was innocent. He knew he had reached out and helped all who truly needed help. He was not a selfish man. Job had been the champion of those in need. He was in no danger of losing his arm. God knew his record on this.
Job 31:23 “For destruction [from] God [was] a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.”
I could not, i.e., have acted in the way charged against me by Eliphaz, since I was always God-fearing. And should have been deterred, if by nothing else, by dread of the Divine vengeance.
“And by reason of his highness I could not endure”: God’s majesty and excellency are such that I could not have resisted them.
Job’s only fear was of God. He tried to live as nearly perfect as he could, because he wanted to please God.
Verses 24-35: As Job ends his final defense, he could honestly say he had not made “gold” his hope or participated in false worship. (Throwing a kiss to heavenly deities – “kiss my hand” – was a pagan superstition). He also never rejoiced at the misfortune of someone who hated him, pronounced a curse on those who mistreated him, or refused hospitality to strangers in need.
Job 31:24 “If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, [Thou art] my confidence;”
That is, the matter of my hope and trust, expecting safety and happiness from it, and placing my chief joy in the increase of my riches.
Job had not made gold his god. He knew that gold was nice to have, but would not save a person.
Job 31:25 “If I rejoiced because my wealth [was] great, and because mine hand had gotten much;”
Job feels that it is wrong even to care greatly for wealth. He seems almost to anticipate the saying of Paul, that “covetousness is idolatry” (Col. 3:5). And hence he passes on without pause from this sort of creature worship to others common in his day (verses 26-27), which he likewise disclaims.
Job had not even bragged about his wealth, nor had he bragged on his great ability to make money. He was not overly proud. He knew all of his blessings came from God.
Job 31:26 “If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking [in] brightness;”
Namely, in its full strength and glory; when it most affected men’s minds and hearts with admiration of its beauty, and of the benefits which it is instrumental in communicating to the world, and thereby moving them to worship it.
“Or the moon walking in brightness”: When it shined most clearly, or was at the full, at which time especially the idolaters worshipped it. Job, in this passage, evidently speaks of the worship of the host of heaven, and especially of the sun and moon. The most eminent and glorious of that number, which was the most ancient kind of idolatry, and most frequent in the eastern countries.
Job 31:27 “And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand:”
Drawn away by beholding the magnitude of these bodies, the swiftness of their motion, their glorious appearance, and great usefulness to mankind. To entertain a thought of their being deities; and privately to worship them, in secret acts of devotion. As by an honorable esteem of them as such, reverence and affection for them, trust and confidence in them. For, as there is a secret worshipping of the true God, so there is a secret idolatry, idolatry in the heart, and setting up of idols there, as well as worshipping them in dark places. In chambers of imagery, as the Jews did (Ezek. 8:12).
“Kissed my hand, in token of worship”: Whereof this was a sign, whether given to men (as Gen. 41:40; Psalm 2:12), or to idols (1 Kings 19:18; Hosea 13:2). And when the idols were out of the reach of idolaters, that they could not kiss them, they used to kiss their hands, and, as it were, to throw kisses at them.
He had not worshipped the sun or the moon, or even his own person.
Job 31:28 “This also [were] an iniquity [to be punished by] the judge: for I should have denied the God [that is] above.”
It is rightly concluded from this expression that, in the country and age of Job, the sort of idolatry which is here mentioned was practiced by some, and also that it was legally punishable.
“For I should have denied the God that is above”: The worship of any other god besides the supreme God is, practically, atheism, since “no man can serve two masters.” Moreover, to set up two independent gods is to destroy the idea of God, which implies supremacy over every other being.
If he had any other gods, he would have understood this punishment. He had no other gods. Job had been faithful to the LORD. He had never denied God. In fact, he had spoken of God as his Redeemer in chapter 19 of this book.
Job 31:29 “If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him:”
He now proceeds to the realm of the wishes and thoughts, and is, therefore, far more thorough and searching with his own case than his friends had been.
Hebrew, (hithgnorarti; stirred up himself), to rejoice and insult over their misery.
Job was saying, that he had not taken vengeance on his enemies. He had left vengeance to the LORD.
Job 31:30 “Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul.”
Which, as it is the instrument of speech, is often the means of much sin. Particularly of cursing men, and expressing much bitterness against enemies. But Job laid an embargo upon it, kept it as with a bridle and restrained it from uttering any evil, or wishing any to his worst adversaries. Which is difficult to do, when provocations are given, as follows:
“By wishing a curse to his soul”: Not to his soul as distinct from his body, being the superior excellency and immortal part. That it be everlastingly damned, as wicked men wish to their own souls, and the souls of others. But to his person, wishing some calamity might befall him, some disease seize upon him, or that God would take him away by death. Job would never suffer himself to wish anything of this kind unto his enemy.
Job had never wished for the destruction of any man. He had never asked God to destroy his enemies. Job did not want them cursed. We saw in an earlier lesson, where he had taught others of the Words of the LORD.
Job 31:31 “If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied.”
A very obscure passage, but probably to be connected with the following verse, in which Job boasts of his hospitality. Translate, if the men of my tent did not say, “Who can find a man that has not been satisfied with his meat”?
“Oh that we had of his flesh!” We should never be satisfied therewith. Compare the similar expression (Job 19:22).
“We cannot be satisfied”: Of the flesh of Job’s enemy. And the sense is that his servants used to say, “We cannot bear to see our master so ill-used and insulted by his enemy”. We wish he would only allow us to avenge him on them, we would eat them up alive; we would devour them, and destroy them at once.
Job 31:32 “The stranger did not lodge in the street: [but] I opened my doors to the traveler.”
I.e. “I did not suffer any stranger who came under my notice to lodge in the street, but, like Abraham (Gen. 18:2-8), went out to him, and invited him in. To partake of my hospitality.” This is still the practice of Arab sheikhs in Syria, Palestine, and the adjacent countries. But I opened my doors to the traveler; literally, to the way; i.e. “my house I gave to the street, and I kept my house door open.” Compare the Mishna, “Let thy house be open to the street”.
I believe both of these Scriptures belong together. It appears in the first verse that the men might have said they had no place for a stranger, but Job told them to take him in. Job housed and fed the strangers.
Job 31:33 “If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:”
“As Adam”: Perhaps best taken “as mankind” (Hosea 6:7).
Adam had hidden in the garden to keep God from knowing he had eaten of the forbidden fruit. Job was saying, that he had not hidden any sins away. God knew everything about him.
Job 31:34 “Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence, [and] went not out of the door?”
No, they did not deter him from confessing his sin in the most public manner, when sensible or convicted of it, and when such a public acknowledgment was necessary.
“Or did the contempt of families terrify me?” No, the contempt he might suppose he should be held in by some families that knew him, and he was well acquainted with, did not terrify him from making a free and ingenuous confession of his sins.
“That I kept silence”: Or “did I keep silence”?
“And went not out of the door?” As one ashamed to show his face before men. But my condition being through God’s mercy far otherwise, and my conscience bearing me witness of my integrity in these and many other things. I dare now lift up my head, and open my mouth to plead my cause, and I desire nothing more than a fair hearing.
This is a reason some men would hide their sins, but Job said he never hid his sins from anyone. Job was not looking for the approval of the people around him. He wanted God’s approval.
Job 31:35 “Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire [is, that] the Almighty would answer me, and [that] mine adversary had written a book.”
“That mine adversary had written a book”: Job wished that God, the perfect Prosecutor who knows the allegations perfectly, had written a book that would have revealed God’s will and wisdom and the reasons for Job’s pain. This would have cleared him of all charges by his friends.
How many times have we prayed and thought that God did not hear our prayer? Job wanted God to hear his prayer and answer him. Job was saying that his adversary should write down his complaints against Job. Not any of them were true.
Job 31:36 “Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, [and] bind it [as] a crown to me.”
The book, or writing, containing the charges against me.
“Upon my shoulder”: As a trophy, or badge of honor.
“And bind it as a crown to me”: I would be so far from being ashamed or terrified, that I would glory, and rejoice, and triumph in it. Nay, and openly expose it to be read by all, well knowing that so groundless and impotent an accusation would only serve the more to clear my innocence.
Job was willing to take all of these complaints unto himself and answer them one by one. Job was not trying to run from the problem. He wanted to present the problem to God and let Him settle it.
Job 31:37 “I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him.”
I would conceal nothing. I would willingly divulge every act of my life. I would make a full and complete answer to the indictment in every particular.
“As a prince would I go near unto him”: There should be no timidity or cringing on my part. I would face my accuser boldly, and bear myself as a prince in his presence.
Job was willing to give an accounting of himself. Job was willing to face his accuser face to face and answer him.
Job 31:38 “If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain;”
If my land disclaim my ownership, as having been acquired by wrong or robbery.
“If the furrows likewise thereof complain”: Or, weep, as having been torn from their rightful proprietors, and seized by a stranger.
Job was really searching. He was even saying, he had not offended the land that he cultivated. Even the land had no complaint to make of Job.
Job 31:39 “If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life:”
Without acquiring a title to them by purchase.
“Or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life”: Either by actual violence or by depriving them of the means of support. Job had been accused of robbery and oppression both by Zophar (Job 20:12-19), and Eliphaz (Job 22:5-9). He had not, however, been accused of actual murder.
Job had purchased the land with money that he had received fruit of. Job had not taken any man’s property without payment.
Job 31:40 “Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.”
Thistles are valueless; and Job is so confident of entire innocence in regard to this, that he says he would be willing, if he were guilty, to have his whole land overrun with noxious weeds.
“The words of Job are ended”: The 3 cycles of speeches which began (in Job 3:1), were finished and Job had the first and last word among his friends.
Job was saying, if I did that, which I did not, then let the land not produce. Job was willing to pay for any sin that he had committed. He knew that if God would judge him, He would find him innocent of wrong doing. The last few chapters were spoken by Job. He now said they were ended. He had given an account of himself to God and would accept God’s answer.