Job 31:38-40

Job finished his speech with words about the ground.

He had often spoken about the soil at the end of previous speeches (Job 7:21; Job 10:21-22; Job 17:16; Job 21:33). The Bible says that God created man from earth (Genesis 2:7). And when a person dies, his body returns to a grave in the soil (Genesis 3:19).

Of course, the ground is not a person. So it cannot really accuse anyone. But it seemed to Job as if the ground was trying to reclaim his body. If the ground had been a person, it would have no reason to accuse Job. Job was fair to his farm workers. Job’s respect for God showed in everything that Job did.

Job thought that he would soon die. Then his friends would return his body to the ground. Nobody would cultivate the soil of Job’s farm. And weeds would grow instead of wheat.

Job finished his speech with these sad words.