Bible Commentaries
Job 31

Verse 1

31:1 I made a covenant with mine {a} eyes; why then should I think upon {b} a maid?

(a) I kept my eyes from all wanton looks.

(b) Would not God then have punished me?

Verse 3

31:3 [Is] not destruction to the wicked? and a strange [punishment] to {c} the workers of iniquity?

(c) Job declares that the fear of God was a bridle to stay him from all wickedness.

Verse 6

31:6 Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine {d} integrity.

(d) He shows what his uprightness stands in, in as much as he was blameless before men and did not sin against the second table.

Verse 7

31:7 If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart {e} walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands;

(e) That is, has accomplished the lust of my eyes.

Verse 8

31:8 [Then] let me sow, and let another {f} eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.

(f) According to the curse of the law, De 28:33.

Verse 10

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

(g) Let her be made a slave.

Verse 12

31:12 For it [is] a fire [that] consumeth {h} to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.

(h) He shows that although man neglects the punishment of adultery, yet the wrath of God will never cease till such are destroyed.

Verse 13

31:13 If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they {i} contended with me;

(i) When they thought themselves evil intreated by me.

Verse 14

31:14 What then shall I do when {k} God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?

(k) If I had oppressed others, how would I have escaped God’s judgment.

Verse 15

31:15 Did not he that made me in the womb make {l} him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?

(l) He was moved to show pity to servants, because they were God’s creatures as he was.

Verse 16

31:16 If I have withheld the poor from [their] desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow {m} to fail;

(m) By long waiting for her request.

Verse 18

31:18

(For from my youth he was brought up with me, {n} as [with] a father, and I have guided her from my mother’s womb;)

(n) He nourished the fatherless, and maintained the widows cause.

Verse 21

31:21 If I have lifted {o} up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:

(o) To oppress him and to do him harm.

Verse 22

31:22 [Then] let mine {p} arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.

(p) Let me rot in pieces.

Verse 23

31:23 For destruction [from] God [was] a {q} terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.

(q) I did not refrain from sin for fear of men, but because I feared God.

Verse 26

31:26 If I beheld the {r} sun when it shined, or the moon walking [in] brightness;

(r) If I was proud of my worldly prosperity and happiness, which is meant by the shining of the sun, and brightness of the moon.

Verse 27

31:27 And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my {s} hand:

(s) If my own doings delighted me.

Verse 28

31:28 This also [were] an iniquity [to be punished by] the judge: for I should have denied the God [that is] {t} above.

(t) By putting confidence in anything but in him alone.

Verse 31

31:31 If the men of my {u} tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied.

(u) My servants moved me to be avenged of my enemy, yet I never wished him harm.

Verse 33

31:33 If I covered {x} my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:

(x) Not confessed it freely, by which it is evident that he justified himself before men, and not before God.

Verse 34

31:34 Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families {y} terrify me, that I kept {z} silence, [and] went not out of the door?

(y) That is, I reverenced the most weak and contemned and was afraid to offend them.

(z) I suffered them to speak evil of me, and went not out of my house to avenge it.

Verse 35

31:35 Oh that one would hear me! behold, my {a} desire [is, that] the Almighty would answer me, and [that] mine adversary had written a book.

(a) This is a sufficient token of my righteousness, that God is my witness and will justify my cause.

Verse 36

31:36 Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, [and] bind it [as] a {b} crown to me.

(b) Should not this book of his accusations be a praise and commendation to me?

Verse 37

31:37 I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a {c} prince would I go near unto him.

(c) I will make him account of all my life, without fear.

Verse 38

31:38 If my land {d} cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain;

(d) As though I had withheld their wages that laboured in it.

Verse 39

31:39 If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused {e} the owners thereof to lose their life:

(e) Meaning, that he was not a briber or extortioner.

Verse 40

31:40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The {f} words of Job are ended.

(f) That is, the talk which he had with his three friends.