Wisdom · Chapter 31 of 42

Job 31

Job takes his final oath of innocence, a solemn self-curse that lists the sins he has not committed: lust, deceit, injustice toward servants, neglect of the poor, trust in gold, secret idolatry, gloating over enemies, and hidden guilt. He longs for God to answer him directly and lay out any charge. With this the words of Job are ended.

What happens in Job 31

Job swears a covenant with his eyes against lust and calls God to weigh him in an even balance. He walks through category after category of possible sin, invoking a curse on himself if any were true. He denies deceiving, wronging his servants, or ignoring their complaints, remembering that the same God formed both master and slave in the womb. He has not withheld from the poor, the widow, or the orphan, nor made gold his confidence, nor secretly worshiped sun or moon, nor rejoiced when his enemy fell.

He has not covered his transgression as Adam did, nor cheated the land he farmed. He cries out for a hearing, wishing his accuser would write the charge in a book he could wear as a crown, and step near to God like a prince. The words of Job are ended.

Job 31 in context

This closes Job's long defense before his friends and before God. In the ancient world an oath of clearance like this was a legal act: a man invited disaster on himself if he lied. Job's list reaches beyond outward deeds to inner motives, treating the eyes and heart as places where guilt begins.

It is the high point of his integrity and his last word before Elihu and then the LORD respond.

Main themes of Job 31

Job 31 (KJV)

1I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid? 2For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high? 3Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity? 4Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps? 5If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit; 6Let me be weighed in an even balance that God may know mine integrity. 7If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands; 8Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out. 9If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour’s door; 10Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her. 11For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges. 12For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase. 13If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me; 14What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him? 15Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb? 16If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; 17Or 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 have guided her from my mother’s womb;) 19If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering; 20If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; 21If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate: 22Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone. 23For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure. 24If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence; 25If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much; 26If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness; 27And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand: 28This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above. 29If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him: 30Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul. 31If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied. 32The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveller. 33If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom: 34Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence, and went not out of the door? 35Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book. 36Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me. 37I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him. 38If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain; 39If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life: 40Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.

Verses to carry from Job 31

“I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?”Job 31:1

“Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?”Job 31:15

“Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book.”Job 31:35

Reflection

Job measured himself not by reputation but by his eyes, his purse, and his treatment of the powerless. Consider where your own righteousness lives. Is it only in what others can see, or does it reach the secret worship of the heart and the way you treat those who can do nothing for you?

A prayer from Job 31