Job 31:10

Job 31:10 [Then] let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.

Ver. 10. Then let my wife grind unto another] i.e. Let her be his slave, as Lam 5:13 Exo 11:5 Mat 24:41; or rather, let her be his whore; and may my sin, which hath served her for example, serve her also for excuse. Not that Job would hereby license his wife to commit filthiness (as those Lituanians, who have their connubii adiutores, co-helpers in wedlock, and prize them far above all their acquaintance, as Maginus relateth, Alienas permolere uxores (Horat.). Sic μυλλειν, i.e. molere, apud Theocrit. est coire; and as some wits among us, panders to their own beds, who, either for gain or for a quiet life, wink at their wives’ disloyalty; and, as woodculvers or silly hedge sparrows, hatch and bring up that which cuckoos lay in their nests), but to set forth by this horrible imprecation how extremely he abhorred the sin of adultery.

And let others bow down upon her] A clean expression of an unclean act. Some Borborologi podicem ex ore faciunt, being like ducks, that ever have their noses puddling in puddles: sic hi spurcitias Veneris eliminant, delight in ribaldry and obscene language; as did Proculus, the emperor, and before him, that beast Tiberius. These are to be avoided as pests and botches of human society. So also are stage plays for that very cause, as the brothels of bawdry, the corrupters of youth, the canker of the commonwealth, as Plato, a heathen, complained. Filthiness and fornication should not be once named among Christians, Eph 5:3. Groves were flatly forbidden by God to be planted near the places of his worship; in detestation of that heathenish custom of Priapus’s worshippers, promiscuously satisfying their lusts in a thicket after they had sacrificed; thereby, as they conceived, best pleasing their god.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Let her be made a slave.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

grind--turn the handmill. Be the most abject slave and concubine (Isa 47:2; Sa2 12:11).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 10. Let my wife grind unto another] Let her work at the handmill, grinding corn; which was the severe work of the meanest slave. In this sense the passage is understood both by the Syriac and Arabic. See Ex 11:5, and Isa 47:2; and see at the end of the chapter. See Clarke on Job 31:40.

And let others bow down upon her.] Let her be in such a state as to have no command of her own person; her owner disposing of her person as he pleases. In Asiatic countries slaves were considered so absolutely the property of their owners, that they not only served themselves of them in the way of scortation and concubinage, but they were accustomed to accommodate their guests with them! Job is so conscious of his own innocence, that he is willing it should be put to the utmost proof; and if found guilty, that he may be exposed to the most distressing and humiliating punishment; even to that of being deprived of his goods, bereaved of his children, his wife made a slave, and subjected to all indignities in that state.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(10) Then let my wife grind—i.e., perform all menial offices, like a slave.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. To “grind unto another,” i. e. at the mill, is to be the slave of another, Isa_47:2. The slave was at the same time usually the concubine of her master, and the curse means, Let my wife be the slave (first clause) and the concubine (second clause) of others. It is probable, however, that in usage the language of the first clause carried the same sense as the second.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For this is an heinous crime,.... Adultery; it is contrary to the light of nature, and is condemned by it as a great sin, Gen 20:9; as well as contrary to the express will and law of God, Exo 20:14; and, though all sin is a transgression of the law of God, and deserving of death; yet there are some sins greater and more heinous than others, being attended with aggravating circumstances; and such is this sin, it is a breach of the marriage contract and covenant between man and wife; it is doing injury to a man's property, and to that which is the nearest and dearest to him, and is what introduces confusion into families, kingdoms, and states; and therefore it follows:

yea, it is an iniquity to he punished by the judges; who might take cognizance of it, examine into it, and pass sentence for it, and execute it; and, if they neglect do their duty, God, the Judge of all the earth, will punish for it in the world to come, unless repented of: "for whoremongers and adulterers God will judge", Heb 13:4; the punishment of adultery was death by the law of God, and that by stoning, as appears from Lev 20:10; and it is remarkable, that the Heathens, who were ignorant of this law, enjoined the same punishment for it; so Homer (e) introduces Hector reproving Paris for this sin, and suggests to him, that if he had his deserved punishment, he would have been clothed with a "stone coat", as he beautifully expresses it; which Suidas (f) explains, by being overwhelmed with stones, or stoned; as Eustathius (g).

(e) Iliad. 3. v. 57. (f) In voce (g) In Homer. ibid.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Then let my wife grined unto another - Let her be subjected to the deepest humiliation and degradation. Probably Job could not have found language which would have more emphatically expressed his sense of the enormity of this crime, or his perfect consciousness of innocence. The last thing which a man would imprecate on himself, would be that which is specified in this verse. The word “grind” (טחן ṭâchan) means to crush, to beat small; then to grind, as in a handmill; Jdg 16:21; Num 11:8. This was usually the work of females and slaves; see the notes at Isa 47:2. The meaning here is, “Let my wife be the mill-wench to another; be his abject slave, and be treated by him with the deepest indignity.” This passage has been understood by many in a different sense, which the parallelism might seem to demand, but which is not necessarily the true interpretation. The sense referred to is this: Cogatur uxor mea ad patiendum alius concubitum, ut verbum molendi hoc loco eodem sensu sumatur, quo non raro a Latinis usurpatur ut in illo Horatii (Satyr. L. i. Ecl. ii. verse 35), alienas permolere uxores.

In this sense the rabbinic writers understand Jdg 16:21 and Lam 5:13. So also the Chaldee renders the phrase before us (חורן תשמשעם אנתתי) coeat cure alio uxor mea; and so the Septuagint seems to have understood it - ἀρέσαι ἄρα κὰι ἡ γυνή μου ἑτέρῳ aresai ara kai hē gunē mou heterō. But probably Job meant merely that his wife should be reduced to the condition of servitude, and be compelled to labor in the employ of another. We may find here an answer to the opinion of Prof. Lee (in his notes at Job 31:1), that the wife of Job was at this time dead, and that he was meditating the question about marrying again. May we not here also find an instance of the fidelity and forgiving spirit of Job toward a wife who is represented in the early part of this book as manifesting few qualities which could win the heart of an husband? There is no expression of impatience at her temper and her words on the part of Job, and he here speaks of it as the most serious of all calamities that could happen; the most painful of all punishments, that that same wife should be reduced to a condition of servitude and degradation.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Let. Hebrew, "Let my wife grind for another, and let others bend over her," urging her to work like the meanest slave. (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "Let my wife please (Grabe substitutes Greek: l of Greek: r, and reads Greek: alesai, grind for) another, and my little children be brought low." (Haydock) --- Yet the sense of the Vulgate is most followed, Ecclesiasticus xlvii. 21., and Lamentations v. 13. Ausonius (epig. 5) says, molitur per utramque cavernam. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Let my wife grind unto another; either,

1. Let her be taken captive, and made a slave to grind in other men’s mills; which was a sore and vile servitude, Exo 11:5; Jdg 16:21; Isa 47:2; Mat 24:41. Or rather,

2. Let her be defiled by another man, as the next words expound it, and as the Hebrews understand it, and as this very phrase is used by very ancient, both Greek and Latin, authors of which see my Latin Synopsis on this place. And this is to be cautiously understood, not as if Job desired or would permit a requital in the same kind, but only, that if in that case God should give up his wife to such a wickedness, he should acknowledge his justice in it, and (though with abhorrency of the sin) accept of that punishment of it.

Let others bow down upon her; 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.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

10. Grind — Burckhardt, speaking of the people of Medina, says, “The women of the cultivators and of the inhabitants of the suburbs serve in the families of the towns-people as domestics, principally to grind corn in the hand-mills.” — Arabia, 2:265. The oldest versions understand the word to express a deeper degradation, in illustration of which Dr. Clarke gives an excursus. The second clause is explained by Job_24:15.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then let my wife grind unto another; 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 Exo_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 the extremest degradation There would be a just nemesis in this punishment of an adulterer. (see 2Sa_12:11)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then - Not as if Job desired this; but that if God should give up his wife to such wickedness, he should acknowledge his justice in it.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

may my wife grind for someone else Our Sages explained this as an expression of sexual intercourse, as in (Jud. 16:21), “and he did grind in the prison house.”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.