Job 31:38

“If my land cried out against me ²  and all its furrows wept together,

"if my land cries out against me and all its furrows are wet with tears,

"If my land cries out against me, And its furrows weep together;

"If my land accuses me and all its furrows weep together,

"If the very ground that I farm accuses me, if even the furrows fill with tears from my abuse,

If my land has made an outcry against me, or the ploughed earth has been in sorrow;

"If my land has cried out against me, and its furrows have wept together;

"If my land cries out against me, And its furrows weep together;

“If my land cried out against me ²  and all its furrows wept together,

¹ sn Many commentators place vv. 38-40b at the end of v. 34, so that there is no return to these conditional clauses after his final appeal.

² sn Some commentators have suggested that the meaning behind this is that Job might not have kept the year of release (Deut 15:1), and the law against mixing seed (Lev 19:19). But the context will make clear that the case considered is obtaining the land without paying for it and causing the death of its lawful owner (see H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 206). Similar to this would be the case of Naboth’s vineyard.