Read Job chapter 31 online with LogosAI Bible study tools, highlights, and cross references.
Job 31 is part of “Third Cycle of Dialogue” (22–31) in the outline of Job.
Job 31 summary
Job had often protested his integrity in general; here he does it in particular instances, not in a way of commendation (for he does not here proclaim his good deeds), but in his own just and necessary vindication, to clear himself from those crimes with which his friends had falsely charged him, which is a debt every man owes to his own reputation. Job's friends had been particular in their articles of impeachment against him, and therefore he is so in his protestation, which seems to refer especially to what Eliphaz had accused him of, Job 22:6, etc. They had produced no witnesses against him, neither could they prove the things whereof they now accused him, and therefore he may well be admitted to purge himself upon oath, which he does very solemnly, and with many awful imprecations of God's wrath if he were guilty of those crimes. This protestation confirms God's character of him, that there was none like him in the earth. Perhaps some of his accusers durst not have joined with him; for he not only acquits himself from those gross sins which lie open to the eye of the world, but from many secret sins which, if he had been guilty of them, nobody could have charged him, with, because he will prove himself no hypocrite. Nor does he only maintain the cleanness of his practices, but shows also that in them he went upon good principles, that the reason of his eschewing evil was because he feared God, and his piety was at the bottom of his justice and charity; and this crowns the proof of his sincerity. I. The sins from which he here acquits himself are, 1. Wantonness and uncleanness of heart (Job 31:1-4). 2. Fraud and injustice in commerce (Job 31:4-8). 3. Adultery (Job 31:9-12). 4. Haughtiness and severity towards his servants (Job 31:13-15). 5. Unmercifulness to the poor, the widows, and the fatherless (Job 31:16-23). 6. Confidence in his worldly wealth (Job 31:24, Job 31:25). 7. Idolatry (Job 31:26-28). 8. Revenge (Job 31:29-31). 9. Neglect of poor strangers (Job 31:32). 10. Hypocrisy in concealing his own sins and cowardice in conniving at the sins of others (Job 31:33, Job 31:34). 11. Oppression, and the violent invasion of other people's rights (Job 31:38-40). And towards the close, he appeals to God's judgment concerning his integrity (Job 31:35-37). Now, II. In all this we may see, 1. The sense of the patriarchal age concerning good and evil and what was so long ago condemned as sinful, that is, both hateful and hurtful. 2. A noble pattern of piety and virtue proposed to us for our imitation, which, if our consciences can witness for us that we conform to it, will be our rejoicing, as it was Job's in the day of evil.
Source: Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706–21; Romans–Revelation completed by Nonconformist ministers). Public domain. Digital text: Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org).
1 “I made a covenant with my eyes; how then should I look lustfully at a young woman?
2 For what is the portion from God above, and the heritage from the Almighty on high?
3 Is it not calamity to the unrighteous, and disaster to the workers of iniquity?
4 Doesn’t he see my ways, and count all my steps?
5 “If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hurried to deceit
6 (let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know my integrity);
7 if my step has turned out of the way, if my heart walked after my eyes, if any defilement has stuck to my hands,
8 then let me sow, and let another eat. Yes, let the produce of my field be rooted out.
9 “If my heart has been enticed to a woman, and I have laid wait at my neighbor’s door,
10 then let my wife grind for another, and let others sleep with her.
11 For that would be a heinous crime. Yes, it would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges,
12 for it is a fire that consumes to destruction, and would root out all my increase.
13 “If I have despised the cause of my male servant or of my female servant, when they contended with me,
14 what then will I do when God rises up? When he visits, what will I answer him?
15 Didn’t he who made me in the womb make him? Didn’t one fashion us in the womb?
16 “If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
17 or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it
18 (no, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, I have guided her from my mother’s womb);
19 if I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or that the needy had no covering;
20 if his heart hasn’t blessed me, if he hasn’t been warmed with my sheep’s fleece;
21 if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate;
22 then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder blade, and my arm be broken from the bone.
23 For calamity from God is a terror to me. Because of his majesty, I can do nothing.
24 “If I have made gold my hope, and have said to the fine gold, ‘You are my confidence;’
25 If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much;
26 if I have seen the sun when it shined, or the moon moving in splendor,
27 and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth;
28 this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have denied the God who is above.
29 “If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him
30 (I have certainly not allowed my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse);
31 if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who can find one who has not been filled with his meat?’
32 (the foreigner has not camped in the street, but I have opened my doors to the traveler);
33 if like Adam I have covered my transgressions, by hiding my iniquity in my heart,
34 because I feared the great multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and didn’t go out of the door—
35 oh that I had one to hear me! Behold, here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me! Let the accuser write my indictment!
36 Surely I would carry it on my shoulder, and I would bind it to me as a crown.
37 I would declare to him the number of my steps. I would go near to him like a prince.
38 If my land cries out against me, and its furrows weep together;
39 if I have eaten its fruits without money, or have caused its owners to lose their life,
40 let briers grow instead of wheat, and stinkweed instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.