Job 31:10

then may my own wife grind grain for another, and may other men sleep with her.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — Job speaks to God while cataloging his moral record, invoking a specific curse upon himself if he has secretly desired another man’s wife.

The words — תִּטְחַן (titchan) means “let her grind,” paired with לְאַחֵר (le’acher) “for another,” while יִכְרְעוּן (yikre’un) “let them bow down” is modified by אֲחֵרִין ('acherin) “others,” forming a single conditional curse.

The thread — This motif of stolen wives and violated marriages appears in Jeremiah 8:10, Deuteronomy 28:30, and 2 Samuel 12:11 as a standard prophetic and legal warning of covenant judgment.

Why it lands — The text demands the reader recognize that Job’s refusal to commit adultery is anchored in a fear of concrete, divinely enforced consequences rather than abstract morality.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

תִּטְחַ֣ןtit.Chanlet her grind לְאַחֵ֣רle./'a.Cherfor/ another אִשְׁתִּ֑י'ish.T/iwife/ my וְ֝עָלֶ֗יהָve./'a.Lei./haand/ over/ her יִכְרְע֥וּןyikh.re.'U/nlet them bow down/ !אֲחֵרִֽין׃'a.che.Rinothers

King James Version

Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.

Cross-references

Jeremiah 8:10 Therefore I will give their wives to other men and their fields to new owners. For from the least of them to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; from prophet to priest, all practice deceit.
Deuteronomy 28:30 You will be pledged in marriage to a woman, but another man will violate her. You will build a house but will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but will not enjoy its fruit.
2 Samuel 12:11 This is what the LORD says: ‘I will raise up adversity against you from your own house. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to another, and he will lie with them in broad daylight.
Isaiah 47:2 Take millstones and grind flour; remove your veil; strip off your skirt, bare your thigh, and wade through the streams.
Exodus 11:5 and every firstborn son in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, to the firstborn of the servant girl behind the hand mill, as well as the firstborn of all the cattle.
Hosea 4:13 They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is pleasant. And so your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters-in-law to adultery.
Matthew 24:41 Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left.