1 “I made a covenant for my eyes, || And how do I attend to a virgin? 2 And what [is] the portion of God from above? And the inheritance of the Mighty from the heights? 3 Is not calamity to the perverse? And strangeness to workers of iniquity? 4 Does He not see my ways, || And number all my steps? 5 If I have walked with vanity, || And my foot hurries to deceit, 6 He weighs me in righteous balances, || And God knows my integrity. 7 If my step turns aside from the way, || And my heart has gone after my eyes, || And blemish has cleaved to my hands, 8 Let me sow—and another eat, || And let my products be rooted out. 9 If my heart has been enticed by a woman, || And I laid wait by the opening of my neighbor, 10 Let my wife grind to another, || And let others bend over her. 11 For it [is] a wicked thing, and a judicial iniquity; 12 For it [is] a fire, it consumes to destruction, || And takes root among all my increase, 13 If I despise the cause of my manservant, || And of my handmaid, || In their contending with me, 14 Then what do I do when God arises? And when He inspects, || What do I answer Him? 15 Did He that made me in the womb not make him? Indeed, One prepares us in the womb. 16 If I withhold the poor from pleasure, || And consume the eyes of the widow, 17 And I eat my morsel by myself, || And the orphan has nothing [to] eat of it, 18 (But from my youth || He grew up with me as [with] a father, || And from the belly of my mother I am led), 19 If I see [any] perishing without clothing, || And there is no covering for the needy, 20 If his loins have not blessed me, || And from the fleece of my sheep || He does not warm himself, 21 If I have waved my hand at the fatherless, || When I see [him] in the gate of my court, 22 Let my shoulder fall from its blade, || And the bone from my arm be broken. 23 For calamity [from] God [is] a dread to me, || And because of His excellence I am not able. 24 If I have made gold my confidence, || And to the pure gold have said, My trust; 25 If I rejoice because my wealth [is] great, || And because my hand has found abundance, 26 If I see the light when it shines, || And the precious moon walking, 27 And my heart is enticed in secret, || And my hand kisses my mouth, 28 It also [is] a judicial iniquity, || For I had lied to God above. 29 If I rejoice at the ruin of my hater, || And stirred up myself when evil found him, 30 Indeed, I have not permitted my mouth to sin, || To ask with an oath his life. 31 If not, say, O men of my tent: O that we had of his flesh, we are not satisfied. 32 A stranger does not lodge in the street, || I open my doors to the traveler. 33 If I have covered my transgressions as Adam, || To hide my iniquity in my bosom, 34 Because I fear a great multitude, || And the contempt of families frightens me, || Then I am silent, I do not go out of the opening. 35 Who gives to me a hearing? Behold, my mark. The Mighty One answers me, || And my adversary has written a bill. 36 If not—on my shoulder I take it up, || I bind it [as] a crown on myself. 37 The number of my steps I tell Him, || As a leader I approach Him. 38 If my land cries out against me, || And together its furrows weep, 39 If I consumed its strength without money, || And the life of its possessors, I have caused to breathe out, 40 Instead of wheat let a thorn go forth, || And instead of barley a useless weed!” The words of Job are finished.
Job · Literal Standard Version
Job 31 Literal Standard Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Cross references (39)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 James 1:14–15; Matthew 5:28–29; Psalm 119:37; 1 John 2:16; Proverbs 6:25
- 2 Job 20:29; Job 27:13; Hebrews 13:4
- 3 Job 21:30; Job 34:22; Matthew 7:13; Isaiah 28:21; Psalm 55:23
- 4 Job 34:21; Proverbs 5:21; 2 Chronicles 16:9; Job 14:16; Proverbs 15:3
- 5 Psalm 44:20–21; Proverbs 12:11; Psalm 12:2; Jeremiah 2:5; Ezekiel 13:8
- 6 Psalm 7:8–9; Daniel 5:27; 1 Samuel 2:3; Matthew 7:23; Isaiah 26:7
- 7 Numbers 15:39; Ecclesiastes 11:9; Matthew 5:29; Job 23:11; Psalm 44:20–21
- 8 Leviticus 26:16; Micah 6:15; Deuteronomy 28:38; Judges 6:3–6; Job 18:19
- 9 1 Kings 11:4; Judges 16:5; Ecclesiastes 7:26; Proverbs 2:16–19; Jeremiah 5:8
- 10 Jeremiah 8:10; Deuteronomy 28:30; 2 Samuel 12:11; Isaiah 47:2; Exodus 11:5
- 11 Leviticus 20:10; Job 31:28; Deuteronomy 22:22–24; Genesis 38:24; Ezekiel 16:38
- 12 Proverbs 6:27; Jeremiah 5:7–9; Hebrews 13:4; Job 26:6; Job 20:28
- 13 Leviticus 25:43; Deuteronomy 24:14–15; Exodus 21:20–21; Jeremiah 34:14–17; Leviticus 25:46
- 14 James 2:13; Psalm 44:21; Psalm 9:12; Zechariah 2:13; Psalm 10:12–15
- 15 Proverbs 14:31; Proverbs 22:2; Malachi 2:10; Job 34:19; Job 10:8–12
- 16 Deuteronomy 15:7–10; Isaiah 38:14; Lamentations 4:17; Deuteronomy 28:32; Galatians 2:10
- 17 Ezekiel 18:16; Nehemiah 8:10; Acts 4:32; Luke 11:41; James 1:27
- 19 Job 22:6; 1 John 3:18; Acts 9:39; Matthew 25:36; 2 Chronicles 28:15
- 20 Deuteronomy 24:13; Job 29:11
- 21 Job 22:9; Job 29:12; Ezekiel 22:7; Micah 7:3; Jeremiah 5:28
- 22 Job 31:40; Job 31:10; Psalm 137:6; Job 38:15; Joshua 22:22–23
- 23 Job 13:11; Psalm 119:120; 2 Corinthians 5:11; Psalm 76:7; Isaiah 13:6
- 24 Psalm 52:7; Deuteronomy 8:12–14; Proverbs 11:28; Psalm 49:6–7; 1 Timothy 6:10
- 25 Psalm 62:10; Deuteronomy 8:17–18; Jeremiah 9:23; Luke 12:19; Ezekiel 28:5
- 26 Ezekiel 8:16; Deuteronomy 4:19; Deuteronomy 17:3; 2 Kings 23:11; Jeremiah 8:2
- 27 Deuteronomy 13:6; Deuteronomy 11:16; Psalm 2:12; Isaiah 44:20; 1 Kings 19:18
- 28 Deuteronomy 17:2–7; Job 31:11; Psalm 50:6; Job 9:15; Joshua 24:27
- 29 Proverbs 24:17–18; Proverbs 17:5; Psalm 35:13–14; Obadiah 12; Psalm 35:25–26
- 30 1 Peter 3:9; Romans 12:14; Matthew 5:43–44; Matthew 5:22; James 3:9–10
- 31 1 Samuel 24:10; 1 Samuel 26:8; 2 Samuel 19:21–22; Job 19:22; Proverbs 1:18
- 32 Hebrews 13:2; Genesis 19:2–3; Judges 19:20–21; Romans 12:13; Matthew 25:35
- 33 Proverbs 28:13; Acts 5:8; Genesis 3:12; Hosea 6:7; 1 John 1:8–10
- 34 Exodus 23:2; Proverbs 29:25; Proverbs 24:11–12; Nehemiah 13:28; Exodus 32:27
- 35 Job 40:4–5; Job 13:21–22; Job 23:3–7; Job 13:3; Job 35:14
- 36 Isaiah 22:22; Isaiah 62:3; Exodus 28:12; Job 29:14; Philippians 4:1
- 37 Job 13:15; Ephesians 3:12; Hebrews 4:15–16; Job 29:25; Job 42:3–6
- 38 Habakkuk 2:11; Psalm 65:13; James 5:4; Job 20:27
- 39 1 Kings 21:19; James 5:4; 1 Kings 21:13–16; Ezekiel 22:6; Isaiah 26:21
- 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).
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)
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)