Job 31
40 verses
Job asserts his innocence in great detail, making a series of oaths regarding specific moral failures from which he has abstained: he has not lusted, has not dealt falsely with servants, has not withheld help from the poor, has not trusted in wealth, has not rejoiced at others' misfortune, and has not concealed his sin. He invites God to find any hidden transgression, to weigh him on just scales, and to hold him accountable, expressing confidence that he will be found innocent. Job's detailed oath functions as a comprehensive assertion of his righteousness and as an appeal to God to examine and vindicate him. The chapter represents the culmination of Job's defense of himself: he has maintained his integrity despite all pressure from the friends and despite his apparent abandonment by God, and he rests his case on the conviction that God, if truly just, must recognize and acknowledge this integrity.
VERSES IN THIS CHAPTER
1
I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?
0 0Open verse page →
2
For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?
0 1Open verse page →
3
Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?
0 1Open verse page →
God is faithful in every circumstance.. There's something deeply comforting about knowing that the same God who spoke th...
4
Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?
1 0Open verse page →
5
If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit;
0 0Open verse page →
6
Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity.
0 0Open verse page →
7
If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands;
0 0Open verse page →
Now I understand why — it's a daily declaration of dependence on God.. God is faithful in every circumstance.. I think t...
8
Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.
1 0Open verse page →
9
If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour’s door;
0 0Open verse page →
10
Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.
0 0Open verse page →
11
For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.
0 0Open verse page →
12
For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.
0 0Open verse page →
13
If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me;
0 0Open verse page →
14
What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?
0 0Open verse page →
15
Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?
0 1Open verse page →
16
If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;
0 0Open verse page →
17
Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;
0 1Open verse page →
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;)
0 0Open verse page →
19
If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;
0 1Open verse page →
20
If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
0 0Open verse page →
21
If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:
0 1Open verse page →
22
Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.
0 0Open verse page →
23
For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.
0 0Open verse page →
24
If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;
0 0Open verse page →
25
If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much;
0 0Open verse page →
26
If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness;
0 0Open verse page →
27
And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand:
0 0Open verse page →
28
This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.
0 0Open verse page →
29
If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him:
0 0Open verse page →
30
Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul.
0 0Open verse page →
31
If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied.
0 0Open verse page →
32
The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveller.
0 0Open verse page →
33
If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:
0 0Open verse page →
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?
0 0Open verse page →
35
Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book.
0 0Open verse page →
36
Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me.
0 0Open verse page →
37
I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him.
0 0Open verse page →
38
If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain;
0 0Open verse page →
39
If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life:
0 0Open verse page →
40
Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.
0 0Open verse page →
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
No notes on this chapter yet. Be the first to write one!