Job 31:35

JOB'S FINAL WORDS

"Oh that I had one to hear me!

(Lo, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me)

And that I had the indictment which mine adversary hath written!

Surely I would carry it upon my shoulder;

I would bind it unto me as a crown:

I would declare unto him the number of my steps;

As a prince I would go near unto him.

If my land crieth out against me,

And the furrows thereof weep together;

If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money,

Or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life:

Let the thistles grow instead of wheat,

And cockle instead of barley.

The words of Job are ended."

Driver and other scholars relocated this final paragraph; but not even James Moffatt's Translation of the Bible (1929) accepted such an act as valid. It does seem that the word "signature" here should have restrained any such maneuver. Where else should the signature of anything be expected except at the end? Van Selms pointed out that, "Scholars find no agreement on the place where these verses may belong," adding that, "The Aramaic version has these verses in the same location as our text. So we shall just leave them there."[22]

"The words of Job are ended" (Job 31:40). "This marks the end of the long discussion between Job and his three friends."[23] Job will speak again before the book ends, but he will not honor the speech of Elihu with any notice whatever.