1I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I look intently upon a virgin? 2For what is the portion from God above, and the inheritance of the Almighty from on high? 3Is it not destruction for the wicked, and calamity for the workers of iniquity? 4Does He not see my ways, and count all my steps? 5If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot has hastened to deceit, 6let me be weighed on just scales, that God may know my integrity. 7If my step has turned aside from the way, or my heart walked after my eyes, or if any blemish has clung to my hands, 8then let me sow, and another eat; yea, let my harvest be rooted out. 9If my heart has been enticed by a woman, or if I have lurked at my neighbor's door, 10then let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down over her. 11For that would be wickedness; yea, it would be perversity deserving of judgment. 12For that would be a fire that devours to Abaddon, and would root out all my increase. 13If I despised the cause of my male or female servant when they have a dispute with me, 14what then shall I do when the Mighty God rises up? When He reviews my case, what shall I answer Him? 15Did not He who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same One fashion us in the womb? 16If I have withheld from the poor their desire, or caused the eyes of the widow to fail, 17or eaten my morsel by myself, and the fatherless has not eaten of it 18(when from my youth, as a father I have raised him, and from my mother's womb I guided her); 19if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or any poor man without covering; 20if his heart has not blessed me, and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; 21if I have waved my hand against the fatherless, when I was looking after my help in the gate; 22then let my shoulder fall from my back, and let my arm be broken from the joint. 23For calamity from the Mighty God is a terror to me, and because of His majesty I could not do such things. 24If I have made gold my hope, or said to fine gold, you are my confidence; 25if I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had acquired much; 26if I have observed the sun when it shines, or the moon moving in splendor, 27so that my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand; 28this also would be a perversity deserving of judgment, for I would have denied the Mighty God above. 29If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, or been excited when evil found him 30(indeed I have not allowed my mouth to sin, to request a curse upon his soul); 31if the men of my tent have not said, who is there that is not satisfied with his flesh? 32(no sojourner had to pass the night in the street, for I have opened my doors to the traveler); 33if I have covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding my iniquity in my bosom, 34then let me fear the great multitude, and let the contempt of families terrify me, and I will keep silent and not go out of the door. 35Oh, that I had one to hear me! Behold, my desire is that the Almighty would answer me, that the man complaining had written an indictment! 36Surely I would carry it on my shoulder, and bind it on me like a crown; 37I would declare to Him the number of my steps; like a prince I would approach Him. 38If my land cries out against me, or its furrows weep together; 39if I have eaten its produce without money, or caused its owners to expire their souls; 40then let thistles come forth instead of wheat, and weeds instead of barley. The words of Job are finished.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 (Job 31:1-40)
Job proceeds to prove that he deserved a better lot. As in the twenty-ninth chapter, he showed his uprightness as an emir, or magistrate in public life, so in this chapter he vindicates his character in private life.
1 He asserts his guarding against being allured to sin by his senses.
think--rather, "cast a (lustful) look." He not merely did not so, but put it out of the question by covenanting with his eyes against leading him into temptation (
Pro 6:25;
Matt 5:28).
2 Had I let my senses tempt me to sin, "what portion (would there have been to me, that is, must I have expected) from (literally, of) God above, and what inheritance from (literally, of) the Almighty," &c. [MAURER] (
Job 20:29;
Job 27:13).
3 Answer to the question in
Job 31:2.
strange--extraordinary.
4 Doth not he see? &c.--Knowing this, I could only have expected "destruction" (
Job 31:3), had I committed this sin (
Pro 5:21).
5 Job's abstinence from evil deeds.
vanity--that is, falsehood (
Ps 12:2).
6 Parenthetical. Translate: "Oh, that God would weigh me . . . then would He know," &c.
7 Connected with
Job 31:6.
the way--of God (
Job 23:11;
Jer 5:5). A godly life.
heart . . . after . . . eyes--if my heart coveted, what my eyes beheld (
Eccl 11:9;
Josh 7:21).
hands-- (
Ps 24:4).
8 Apodosis to
Job 31:5,
Job 31:7; the curses which he imprecates on himself, if he had done these things (
Lev 26:16;
Amos 9:14;
Ps 128:2).
offspring--rather, "what I plant," my harvests.
9 Job asserts his innocence of adultery.
deceived--hath let itself be seduced (
Pro 7:8;
Gen 39:7-
Gen 39:12).
laid wait--until the husband went out.
10 grind--turn the handmill. Be the most abject slave and concubine (
Isa 47:2;
2Sam 12:11).
11 In the earliest times punished with death (
Gen 38:24). So in later times (
Deut 22:22). Heretofore he had spoken only of sins against conscience; now, one against the community, needing the cognizance of the judge.
12 (
Pro 6:27-
Pro 6:35;
Pro 8:6-
Pro 8:23,
Pro 8:26-
Pro 8:27). No crime more provokes God to send destruction as a consuming fire; none so desolates the soul.
13 Job affirms his freedom from unfairness towards his servants, from harshness and oppression towards the needy.
despise the cause--refused to do them justice.
14 Parenthetical; the reason why Job did not despise the cause of his servants. Translate: What then (had I done so) could I have done, when God arose (to call me to account); and when He visited (came to enquire), what could I have answered Him?
15 Slaveholders try to defend themselves by maintaining the original inferiority of the slave. But
Mal 2:10;
Acts 17:26;
Eph 6:9 make the common origin of masters and servants the argument for brotherly love being shown by the former to the latter.
16 fail--in the vain expectation of relief (
Job 11:20).
17 Arabian rules of hospitality require the stranger to be helped first, and to the best.
18 Parenthetical: asserting that he did the contrary to the things in
Job 31:16-
Job 31:17.
he--the orphan.
guided her--namely, the widow, by advice and protection. On this and "a father," see
Job 29:16.
19 perish--that is, ready to perish (
Job 29:13).
20 loins--The parts of the body benefited by Job are poetically described as thanking him; the loins before naked, when clad by me, wished me every blessing.
21 when--that is, "because."
I saw--that I might calculate on the "help" of a powerful party in the court of justice--("gate"), if I should be summoned by the injured fatherless.
22 Apodosis to
Job 31:13,
Job 31:16-
Job 31:17,
Job 31:19-
Job 31:21. If I had done those crimes, I should have made a bad use of my influence ("my arm," figuratively,
Job 31:21): therefore, if I have done them let my arm (literally) suffer. Job alludes to Eliphaz' charge (
Job 22:9). The first "arm" is rather the shoulder. The second "arm" is the forearm.
from the bone--literally, "a reed"; hence the upper arm, above the elbow.
23 For--that is, the reason why Job guarded against such sins. Fear of God, though he could escape man's judgment (
Gen 39:9). UMBREIT more spiritedly translates, Yea, destruction and terror from God might have befallen me (had I done so): mere fear not being the motive.
highness--majestic might.
endure--I could have availed nothing against it.
24 Job asserts his freedom from trust in money (
1Tim 6:17). Here he turns to his duty towards God, as before he had spoken of his duty towards himself and his neighbor. Covetousness is covert idolatry, as it transfers the heart from the Creator to the creature (
Col 3:5). In
Job 31:26-
Job 31:27 he passes to overt idolatry.
26 If I looked unto the sun (as an object of worship) because he shined; or to the moon because she walked, &c. Sabaism (from tsaba, "the heavenly hosts") was the earliest form of false worship. God is hence called in contradistinction, "Lord of Sabaoth." The sun, moon, and stars, the brightest objects in nature, and seen everywhere, were supposed to be visible representatives of the invisible God. They had no temples, but were worshipped on high places and roofs of houses (
Ezek 8:16;
Deut 4:19;
2Kgs 23:5,
2Kgs 23:11). The Hebrew here for "sun" is light. Probably light was worshipped as the emanation from God, before its embodiments, the sun, &c. This worship prevailed in Chaldea; wherefore Job's exemption from the idolatry of his neighbors was the more exemplary. Our "Sun-day," "Mon-day," or Moon-day, bear traces of Sabaism.
27 enticed--away from God to idolatry.
kissed . . . hand--"adoration," literally means this. In worshipping they used to kiss the hand, and then throw the kiss, as it were, towards the object of worship (
1Kgs 19:18;
Hos 13:2).
28 The Mosaic law embodied subsequently the feeling of the godly from the earliest times against idolatry, as deserving judicial penalties: being treason against the Supreme King (
Deut 13:9;
Deut 17:2-
Deut 17:7;
Ezek 8:14-
Ezek 8:18). This passage therefore does not prove Job to have been subsequent to Moses.
29 lifted up myself--in malicious triumph (
Pro 17:5;
Pro 24:17;
Ps 7:4).
30 mouth--literally, "palate." (See on
Job 6:30).
wishing--literally, "so as to demand his (my enemy's) soul," that is, "life by a curse." This verse parenthetically confirms
Job 31:30. Job in the patriarchal age of the promise, anterior to the law, realizes the Gospel spirit, which was the end of the law (compare
Lev 19:18;
Deut 23:6, with
Matt 5:43-
Matt 5:44).
31 That is, Job's household said, Oh, that we had Job's enemy to devour, we cannot rest satisfied till we have! But Job refrained from even wishing revenge (
1Sam 26:8;
2Sam 16:9-10). So Jesus Christ (
Luke 9:54-
Luke 9:55). But, better (see
Job 31:32), translated, "Who can show (literally, give) the man who was not satisfied with the flesh (meat) provided by Job?" He never let a poor man leave his gate without giving him enough to eat.
32 traveller--literally, "way," that is, wayfarers; so expressed to include all of every kind (
2Sam 12:4).
33 Adam--translated by UMBREIT, "as men do" (
Hos 6:7, where see Margin). But English Version is more natural. The very same word for "hiding" is used in
Gen 3:8,
Gen 3:10, of Adam hiding himself from God. Job elsewhere alludes to the flood. So he might easily know of the fall, through the two links which connect Adam and Abraham (about Job's time), namely, Methuselah and Shem. Adam is representative of fallen man's propensity to concealment (
Pro 28:13). It was from God that Job did not "hide his iniquity in his bosom," as on the contrary it was from God that "Adam" hid in his lurking-place. This disproves the translation, "as men"; for it is from their fellow men that "men" are chiefly anxious to hide their real character as guilty. MAGEE, to make the comparison with Adam more exact, for my "bosom" translates, "lurking-place."
34 Rather, the apodosis to
Job 31:33, "Then let me be fear-stricken before a great multitude, let the contempt, &c., let me keep silence (the greatest disgrace to a patriot, heretofore so prominent in assemblies), and not go out," &c. A just retribution that he who hides his sin from God, should have it exposed before man (
2Sam 12:12). But Job had not been so exposed, but on the contrary was esteemed in the assemblies of the "tribes"--("families"); a proof, he implies, that God does not hold him guilty of hiding sin (
Job 24:16, contrast with
Job 29:21-
Job 29:25).
35 Job returns to his wish (
Job 13:22;
Job 19:23). Omit "is"; "Behold my sign," that is, my mark of subscription to the statements just given in my defense: the mark of signature was originally a cross; and hence the letter Tau or T. Translate, also "Oh, that the Almighty," &c. He marks "God" as the "One" meant in the first clause.
adversary--that is, he who contends with me, refers also to God. The vagueness is designed to express "whoever it be that judicially opposes me"--the Almighty if it be He.
had written a book--rather, "would write down his charge."
36 So far from hiding the adversary's "answer" or "charge" through fear,
I would take it on my shoulders--as a public honor (
Isa 9:6).
a crown--not a mark of shame, but of distinction (
Isa 62:3).
37 A good conscience imparts a princely dignity before man and free assurance in approaching God. This can be realized, not in Job's way (
Job 42:5-
Job 42:6); but only through Jesus Christ (
Heb 10:22).
38 Personification. The complaints of the unjustly ousted proprietors are transferred to the lands themselves (
Job 31:20;
Gen 4:10;
Hab 2:11). If I have unjustly acquired lands (
Job 24:2;
Isa 5:8).
furrows--The specification of these makes it likely, he implies in this, "If I paid not the laborer for tillage"; as
Job 31:39, "If I paid him not for gathering in the fruits." Thus of the four clauses in
Job 31:38-
Job 31:39, the first refers to the same subject as the fourth, the second is connected with the third by introverted parallelism. Compare
Jas 5:4, which plainly alludes to this passage: compare "Lord of Sabaoth" with
Job 31:26 here.
39 lose . . . life--not literally, but "harassed to death"; until he gave me up his land gratis [MAURER]; as in
Judg 16:16; "suffered him to languish" by taking away his means of living [UMBREIT] (
1Kgs 21:19).
40 thistles--or brambles, thorns.
cockle--literally, "noxious weeds."
The words . . . ended--that is, in the controversy with the friends. He spoke in the book afterwards, but not to them. At
Job 31:37 would be the regular conclusion in strict art. But
Job 31:38-
Job 31:40 are naturally added by one whose mind in agitation recurs to its sense of innocence, even after it has come to the usual stopping point; this takes away the appearance of rhetorical artifice. Hence the transposition by EICHORN of
Job 31:38-
Job 31:40 to follow
Job 31:25 is quite unwarranted.
