Job 31
1 I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?
2 For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?
3 Is it not evil to the wicked, and a good thing to the workers of iniquity?
4 Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?
5 If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit;
6 Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity.
7 If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any spot hath cleaved to mine hands;
8 Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.
9 If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour’s door;
10 Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.
11 For this is a heinous crime; yea, it is iniquity to be punished by the judges.
12 For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.
13 If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me;
14 What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?
15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not 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 myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;
18 (For from my youth he was brought up with me as with a father, and I guided her from my mother’s womb;)
19 If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;
20 If his loins have not blessed me, and he was warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
21 If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:
22 Let mine arm fall from my shoulder, and mine arm be broken from the bone.
23 For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.
24 If I have made gold my hope, or have said to fine gold, Thou art my confidence;
25 If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much;
26 If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness,
27 And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand;
28 This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied God that is above.
29 If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him;
30 Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul.
31 If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we are satisfied with the substance of our hands;
32 The stranger did not lodge in the street: I have opened my doors to the traveller.
33 If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom,
34 Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence, and went not out of the door?
35 Oh that I had one to hear me! behold, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me, and that he would hearken to the voice of my lips!
36 Let the Almighty answer me, and let my adversary write a book.
37 Surely I would carry it upon my shoulder, I would bind it unto me as a crown.
38 I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him.
39 If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain;
40 If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owner to lose his life;
41 Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley.”
Job 31 Commentary
Chapter Overview
Job 31 completes the final defense that began in Job 29. After remembering his former honor and describing his present humiliation in Job 30, Job now places his conduct under a series of solemn self-curses. Again and again he says, in effect, “If I have done this, let the fitting judgment fall.” He is asking God to examine the whole pattern of his life.
The chapter is broader than a claim of sexual purity or charitable giving. Job addresses inward desire, honesty, marital faithfulness, treatment of servants, care for vulnerable people, reliance on wealth, false worship, hatred of enemies, hospitality, concealed sin, abuse of land, and willingness to answer formal charges. His integrity reaches from private thoughts to public power.
Job is not claiming absolute sinlessness. Earlier he acknowledged human frailty and asked God to identify any particular transgression. Here he denies the serious offenses his friends have attributed to him, especially the accusations of oppression in Job 22. “Integrity” means that his life is not built on the secret wickedness they imagine.
A Covenant With His Eyes
Job begins, “I made a covenant with mine eyes.” A covenant is a deliberate, binding commitment. He does not wait until desire has taken control and then attempt to manage the consequences. He establishes a boundary at the point of sight, recognizing that what the eyes repeatedly welcome can shape the imagination and direct the heart.
“Why then should I think upon a maid?” does not condemn ordinary recognition of another person’s beauty. Job is rejecting the intentional gaze that turns a person into an object of fantasy or prepares the heart for unfaithfulness. The verse joins outward discipline to inward holiness, much as Jesus later teaches that adultery can begin in the heart.
Job’s reason is theological: God sees his ways and counts his steps. Private conduct is never truly hidden from the One whose judgment matters most. This awareness is not merely fear of punishment; it places every choice within a relationship of accountability to God.
He asks to be weighed in an “even balance.” Merchants could cheat with dishonest scales, but God’s scale is perfectly accurate. Job does not ask for favorable treatment or public sympathy. He wants a truthful evaluation that separates his anguished words from the crimes alleged against him.
Truthfulness and Marital Faithfulness
Job next denies walking with falsehood, hastening toward deceit, or allowing his heart and hands to follow a corrupt path. The sequence matters. The foot, heart, eyes, and hands describe the whole person. Integrity is not a carefully maintained public image while desire and action move in another direction.
Job then addresses adultery. He denies allowing his heart to be enticed by another woman or waiting at his neighbor’s door. The language recognizes both inward consent and outward planning. Sexual betrayal does not begin only at the final physical act; secrecy, desire, and opportunity can form a path toward it.
He calls adultery a “heinous crime” and an offense punishable by judges. It violates a spouse, a neighbor, a household, and the covenant order of the community. Job also compares it to a fire that consumes to destruction, because hidden sexual sin can spread beyond the moment and burn through trust, family, reputation, and livelihood.
The Equal Dignity of Servants
Verses 13–15 are remarkable in their treatment of power. Job asks what he would answer if he had despised the legal complaint of a male or female servant. In a strongly hierarchical society, he acknowledges that people under his authority possess a cause that must be heard rather than dismissed.
His reason is creation: “Did not he that made me in the womb make him?” Employer and servant, wealthy and poor, powerful and dependent all receive life from the same Creator. Differences in social position do not create differences in human worth before God.
Justice for the Poor and Vulnerable
Job denies withholding the poor person’s desire, exhausting a widow’s hope, eating alone while an orphan goes hungry, or leaving someone without adequate clothing. His righteousness is practical. Food, warmth, legal protection, and sustained care are not abstract virtues; they are concrete responses to human need.
The poor person’s loins “blessed” Job because the fleece of his sheep supplied warmth. Job’s wealth became protection for another body. Possession is not condemned in this chapter; hoarding, indifference, and confidence in wealth are. Resources are rightly used when they become food, clothing, shelter, justice, and hospitality.
Job also denies lifting his hand against an orphan merely because he had influence “in the gate,” the place of legal judgment. He would not weaponize social connections against someone without defenders. His willingness to lose his own arm if guilty shows how seriously he regards abuse of power.
Wealth and Worship
Job had been extremely wealthy, yet he denies making gold his hope or calling fine gold his confidence. The danger is not simply owning much but treating possessions as the source of safety, identity, and future. Wealth becomes an idol when the heart expects from it what only God can finally provide.
Verses 26–28 turn from material idolatry to celestial worship. The sun and moon were widely revered for their beauty and apparent power. Kissing the hand likely describes a gesture of devotion. Job could admire creation without secretly transferring worship from the Creator to the created order.
Enemies, Guests, and Hidden Sin
Job denies rejoicing when an enemy was ruined or allowing his mouth to curse that person’s life. He does not pretend that enemies never harmed him. Instead, he refuses to make another person’s disaster a source of proud satisfaction. Integrity governs reactions to opponents as well as kindness toward friends.
His household testifies to abundant provision, and the traveler does not sleep in the street because Job opens his doors. Hospitality turns a private home into shelter for someone without local protection. The chapter’s moral vision moves naturally from guarding the eyes to opening the door.
Job also denies concealing transgression “as Adam” or, depending on translation, “as mankind.” The central idea is hiding guilt out of fear of public disgrace. Job is not saying he has never sinned; he insists that reputation has not controlled him so completely that he buried serious wrongdoing behind silence and social respectability.
Job’s Signature and the Cry of the Land
“Behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me” functions like a signed legal statement. Job has presented his case and wants the accuser’s charges written down. He imagines carrying the indictment on his shoulder or wearing it like a crown because a specific document could finally be answered, unlike the friends’ shifting suspicions.
He says he would declare the number of his steps and approach God “as a prince.” This is not casual arrogance before God. It expresses the confidence of a defendant who believes the alleged crimes cannot be proved. Yet the chapters that follow will also show that Job’s knowledge remains limited and that God is not reducible to a courtroom opponent.
The oath ends with the land itself crying out. Job denies consuming its produce without payment or causing its workers or owners to lose their lives. Soil and furrows become witnesses against economic abuse, reminding readers that injustice can be embedded in ownership, labor, and the acquisition of profit.
His final curse asks for thistles instead of wheat and weeds instead of barley if he has exploited the land or those who worked it. The fitting reversal joins moral conduct to creation: corrupt stewardship should produce barrenness rather than abundance. With this, “the words of Job are ended,” and the long defense rests before God.
Important Questions
Does Job claim to be completely sinless? No. He claims integrity against concrete accusations and invites God to identify a charge. The book distinguishes moral wholeness from absolute perfection. Job can be genuinely righteous while still needing correction in how he speaks about God.
What does a covenant with the eyes require? It requires intentional boundaries before temptation matures. The principle applies to physical settings, media, private imagination, and any habit that trains the heart to use another person for selfish desire.
Why does Job discuss servants, widows, orphans, travelers, and land in one oath? Because integrity is comprehensive. Worship cannot be separated from employment, sexuality, money, hospitality, legal influence, or care for creation and workers.
Why is Job so confident about appearing before God? He knows the friends’ charges are false and longs for vindication. His confidence is therefore meaningful, though not complete knowledge. God will answer without endorsing every assumption Job has made about how the hearing should proceed.
Practical Applications
First, build moral safeguards at the beginning of temptation rather than relying on willpower at the end. Job’s covenant with his eyes shows that holiness often involves decisions made before desire gains momentum.
Second, examine how power is used. Job measures integrity by whether servants receive a hearing, vulnerable people receive protection, and influence at the gate serves justice rather than self-interest. Christian character is tested by how a person treats those who cannot easily retaliate.
Third, distinguish possessing wealth from trusting wealth. Money can provide real assistance, but it cannot bear the weight of ultimate hope. Use resources as instruments of mercy rather than as evidence of personal superiority or divine favoritism.
Fourth, refuse secret delight in an enemy’s collapse. Justice may require consequences, but vindictive pleasure reshapes the heart around another person’s misery. Job’s oath leaves room for truth and accountability without hatred becoming worship.
Finally, welcome honest examination. Job is willing for his private and public life to be weighed together. Believers should not imitate his every courtroom assumption, but they can learn from his refusal to separate devotion from desire, work, money, hospitality, justice, and stewardship.