“If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life:”
If I have eaten its yield without payment and made its owners breathe their last — Job addresses the potential sin of exploiting tenant farmers or servants who worked his land, consuming the fruit of their labor without just compensation. The phrase 'made its owners breathe their last' suggests either driving workers to exhaustion or dispossessing them of their livelihood. This verse reflects the same social ethics as the earlier oath verses regarding widows, orphans, and strangers — all forms of economic exploitation violate the covenant. The implicit denial is that Job has been a just employer and landowner.
Church Fathers on Job 31:39
—40. If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain: if I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have afflicted the soul of the tillers thereof; let the thistle grow for me instead of wheat, and the thorn instead of barley. For what is it for the ‘land to cry,’ for ‘the furrows to weep,’ and to have ‘eaten one’s own fruits buying them?’ To whom is it necessary to buy what is his own? who has heard ‘the land crying?’ Who has seen ‘the…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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