Skip to the text

Job · Berean Standard Bible

Job 31 Berean Standard Bible

Leer en español
About BSB
  • Protestant
  • OT: Masoretic Hebrew
  • NT: Critical text
  • Protestant (66 books)
  • Formal (word for word)
  • 2022
  • Public domain

Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings

1 “I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze with desire at a virgin? 2 For what is the allotment of God from above, or the heritage from the Almighty on high? 3 Does not disaster come to the unjust and calamity to the workers of iniquity? 4 Does He not see my ways and count my every step? 5 If I have walked in falsehood or my foot has rushed to deceit, 6 let God weigh me with honest scales, that He may know my integrity. 7 If my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has followed my eyes, or if impurity has stuck to my hands, 8 then may another eat what I have sown, and may my crops be uprooted. 9 If my heart has been enticed by my neighbor’s wife, or I have lurked at his door, 10 then may my own wife grind grain for another, and may other men sleep with her. 11 For that would be a heinous crime, an iniquity to be judged. 12 For it is a fire that burns down to Abaddon; it would root out my entire harvest. 13 If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or maidservant when they made a complaint against me, 14 what will I do when God rises to judge? How will I answer when called to account? 15 Did not He who made me in the womb also make them? Did not the same One form us in the womb? 16 If I have denied the desires of the poor or allowed the widow’s eyes to fail, 17 if I have eaten my morsel alone, not sharing it with the fatherless— 18 though from my youth I reared him as would a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow— 19 if I have seen one perish for lack of clothing, or a needy man without a cloak, 20 if his heart has not blessed me for warming him with the fleece of my sheep, 21 if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless because I saw that I had support in the gate, 22 then may my arm fall from my shoulder and be torn from its socket. 23 For calamity from God terrifies me, and His splendor I cannot overpower. 24 If I have put my trust in gold or called pure gold my security, 25 if I have rejoiced in my great wealth because my hand had gained so much, 26 if I have beheld the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor, 27 so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth, 28 this would also be an iniquity to be judged, for I would have denied God on high. 29 If I have rejoiced in my enemy’s ruin, or exulted when evil befell him— 30 I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for his life with a curse— 31 if the men of my house have not said, ‘Who is there who has not had his fill?’— 32 but no stranger had to lodge on the street, for my door has been open to the traveler— 33 if I have covered my transgressions like Adam by hiding my guilt in my heart, 34 because I greatly feared the crowds and the contempt of the clans terrified me, so that I kept silent and would not go outside— 35 (Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature. Let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser compose an indictment. 36 Surely I would carry it on my shoulder and wear it like a crown. 37 I would give account of all my steps; I would approach Him like a prince.)— 38 if my land cries out against me and its furrows weep together, 39 if I have devoured its produce without payment or broken the spirit of its tenants, 40 then let briers grow instead of wheat and stinkweed instead of barley.” Thus conclude the words of Job.

Cross references (39)

Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.

  1. 1 James 1:14–15; Matthew 5:28–29; Psalm 119:37; 1 John 2:16; Proverbs 6:25
  2. 2 Job 20:29; Job 27:13; Hebrews 13:4
  3. 3 Job 21:30; Job 34:22; Matthew 7:13; Isaiah 28:21; Psalm 55:23
  4. 4 Job 34:21; Proverbs 5:21; 2 Chronicles 16:9; Job 14:16; Proverbs 15:3
  5. 5 Psalm 44:20–21; Proverbs 12:11; Psalm 12:2; Jeremiah 2:5; Ezekiel 13:8
  6. 6 Psalm 7:8–9; Daniel 5:27; 1 Samuel 2:3; Matthew 7:23; Isaiah 26:7
  7. 7 Numbers 15:39; Ecclesiastes 11:9; Matthew 5:29; Job 23:11; Psalm 44:20–21
  8. 8 Leviticus 26:16; Micah 6:15; Deuteronomy 28:38; Judges 6:3–6; Job 18:19
  9. 9 1 Kings 11:4; Judges 16:5; Ecclesiastes 7:26; Proverbs 2:16–19; Jeremiah 5:8
  10. 10 Jeremiah 8:10; Deuteronomy 28:30; 2 Samuel 12:11; Isaiah 47:2; Exodus 11:5
  11. 11 Leviticus 20:10; Job 31:28; Deuteronomy 22:22–24; Genesis 38:24; Ezekiel 16:38
  12. 12 Proverbs 6:27; Jeremiah 5:7–9; Hebrews 13:4; Job 26:6; Job 20:28
  13. 13 Leviticus 25:43; Deuteronomy 24:14–15; Exodus 21:20–21; Jeremiah 34:14–17; Leviticus 25:46
  14. 14 James 2:13; Psalm 44:21; Psalm 9:12; Zechariah 2:13; Psalm 10:12–15
  15. 15 Proverbs 14:31; Proverbs 22:2; Malachi 2:10; Job 34:19; Job 10:8–12
  16. 16 Deuteronomy 15:7–10; Isaiah 38:14; Lamentations 4:17; Deuteronomy 28:32; Galatians 2:10
  17. 17 Ezekiel 18:16; Nehemiah 8:10; Acts 4:32; Luke 11:41; James 1:27
  18. 19 Job 22:6; 1 John 3:18; Acts 9:39; Matthew 25:36; 2 Chronicles 28:15
  19. 20 Deuteronomy 24:13; Job 29:11
  20. 21 Job 22:9; Job 29:12; Ezekiel 22:7; Micah 7:3; Jeremiah 5:28
  21. 22 Job 31:40; Job 31:10; Psalm 137:6; Job 38:15; Joshua 22:22–23
  22. 23 Job 13:11; Psalm 119:120; 2 Corinthians 5:11; Psalm 76:7; Isaiah 13:6
  23. 24 Psalm 52:7; Deuteronomy 8:12–14; Proverbs 11:28; Psalm 49:6–7; 1 Timothy 6:10
  24. 25 Psalm 62:10; Deuteronomy 8:17–18; Jeremiah 9:23; Luke 12:19; Ezekiel 28:5
  25. 26 Ezekiel 8:16; Deuteronomy 4:19; Deuteronomy 17:3; 2 Kings 23:11; Jeremiah 8:2
  26. 27 Deuteronomy 13:6; Deuteronomy 11:16; Psalm 2:12; Isaiah 44:20; 1 Kings 19:18
  27. 28 Deuteronomy 17:2–7; Job 31:11; Psalm 50:6; Job 9:15; Joshua 24:27
  28. 29 Proverbs 24:17–18; Proverbs 17:5; Psalm 35:13–14; Obadiah 12; Psalm 35:25–26
  29. 30 1 Peter 3:9; Romans 12:14; Matthew 5:43–44; Matthew 5:22; James 3:9–10
  30. 31 1 Samuel 24:10; 1 Samuel 26:8; 2 Samuel 19:21–22; Job 19:22; Proverbs 1:18
  31. 32 Hebrews 13:2; Genesis 19:2–3; Judges 19:20–21; Romans 12:13; Matthew 25:35
  32. 33 Proverbs 28:13; Acts 5:8; Genesis 3:12; Hosea 6:7; 1 John 1:8–10
  33. 34 Exodus 23:2; Proverbs 29:25; Proverbs 24:11–12; Nehemiah 13:28; Exodus 32:27
  34. 35 Job 40:4–5; Job 13:21–22; Job 23:3–7; Job 13:3; Job 35:14
  35. 36 Isaiah 22:22; Isaiah 62:3; Exodus 28:12; Job 29:14; Philippians 4:1
  36. 37 Job 13:15; Ephesians 3:12; Hebrews 4:15–16; Job 29:25; Job 42:3–6
  37. 38 Habakkuk 2:11; Psalm 65:13; James 5:4; Job 20:27
  38. 39 1 Kings 21:19; James 5:4; 1 Kings 21:13–16; Ezekiel 22:6; Isaiah 26:21
  39. 40 Genesis 3:17–18; Malachi 1:3; Psalm 72:20; Isaiah 7:23; Zephaniah 2:9

Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences

What the Fathers said

Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).

How these were chosen

“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).

  1. Quotes verse 31:25 John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew (Homily XXI)

    And what is more, when he had them they were no joy to him: so he also declared, saying, "If I did so much as rejoice when my wealth waxed great:" wherefore neither did he grieve when it was gone.

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)

  2. Quotes verse 31:1 John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew (Homily XXXIII)

    And if thou wouldest also hear of his strivings after continence, hearken to him when he saith, "I made a covenant with mine eyes, that I should not think upon a maid." For this cause his wife did not break his spirit, for he loved her even before this, not however immoderately, but as is due to a wife.

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)