Job 31

Job makes his final defense. He lists the sins a righteous man would avoid: lust, deceit, adultery, injustice to servants, hardness toward the poor, greed, idolatry, revenge, inhospitality and hidden guilt. Each is sworn before God with ‘if I have…then may…’. He ends by asking for God to answer him.

Job 31:1

Job begins with his thought life. He made a firm promise to his eyes not to look at a young woman with desire. Purity starts with what we allow ourselves to look at and dwell upon, before any act takes place.

BSA: covenant (“solemnly promised, vowed to myself”): Job treated self-control as a binding vow, not a passing wish.

See also: Matthew 5:28.

Job 31:2-4

Job knows that God gives each person a portion according to how they live. Disaster belongs to the wicked. God sees every path and counts every step, so nothing Job does is hidden. He lives as one who is watched by a just God.

BSA: count (“number, recount, consider”): God is pictured as keeping an exact tally of Job’s steps.

See also: Proverbs 5:21.

Job 31:5-6

Job invites a test. If he has lived falsely or hurried toward deceit, let God weigh him on honest scales. He is not claiming sinlessness. He is claiming a sincere life, and he trusts God to judge fairly.

BSA: integrity (“moral purity, innocence”): Job is asking God to confirm that his life is whole and sound, not flawless.

Hebrew: תֻּמָּה (tummāh, H8538) — “completeness, wholeness.” The Hebrew word suggests a life that is all of one piece, with no gap between what he shows and what he is.

Job 31:7-8

Job names three sources of wrongdoing: wandering from the path, a heart led by the eyes, and hands that are stained. If he is guilty, he accepts the loss of his harvest, so that others eat what he planted.

BSA: heart (“the seat of feelings, will, and intellect”): The heart includes the whole inner person, so when it follows the eyes, the will goes along with it.

Job 31:9-12

Job turns to adultery. He denies that he ever desired a neighbor’s wife or lurked at his door. If he had, he would accept the shame of losing his own wife. He calls adultery a fire that destroys everything down to ruin.

BSA: lurked (“laid wait, ambushed”): Adultery is shown as planned, secret stalking and not a sudden slip.

Hebrew: אֲבַדּוֹן (ʼăbaddôn, H11) — “destruction, place of ruin.” Abaddon comes from a word meaning to perish. Job says this sin burns all the way down to the place of ruin.

See also: Proverbs 6:27-29.

Job 31:13-15

Job did not brush aside his servants’ complaints. He knew he would answer to God. His reason is that the same God made him and them in the womb, so a servant is a fellow creature and not a lower kind of being.

BSA: rises (“stands up, takes action”): God is pictured getting to his feet to judge, so the day of reckoning is certain.

See also: Proverbs 22:2; Ephesians 6:9.

Job 31:16-18

Job did not turn away the poor, or leave a widow waiting without hope. He did not eat his meal alone while orphans went hungry. From his youth he cared for them as a father would. His kindness was a way of life.

BSA: fail (“end, come to nothing”): A widow’s eyes fail when her hope runs out, which Job refused to allow.

See also: James 1:27.

Job 31:19-20

Job gave clothing to those in need, so that the poor man’s heart blessed him. Wool from his own sheep warmed the freezing. Real faith notices a need and meets it with what it has.

See also: James 2:15-16.

Job 31:21-22

Job never used his influence at the city gate, where judges sat, to push around the orphan. If he had, he would let his arm be torn from its socket. The arm that wronged the weak deserves to be broken.

BSA: gate (“city entrance, place of judgment”): The gate was where legal cases were heard, so Job is speaking of abusing his power in court.

Job 31:23

Job’s restraint came from awe of God. He fears God’s judgment and knows he could not stand against God’s majesty. His good conduct was rooted in reverence, not only in reputation.

BSA: splendor (“elevation, highness”): God’s greatness stands so far above Job that resisting him is impossible.

Job 31:24-25

Job did not make gold his security, or take pride in how much his hand had gained. Wealth is a blessing but a poor god. Rejoicing in riches as one’s own achievement quietly replaces trust in God.

BSA: security (“confidence, refuge, place of trust”): Job did not treat money as a refuge, which belongs only to God.

See also: 1 Timothy 6:17; Matthew 6:24.

Job 31:26-28

Job did not give in to worshiping the sun or moon, throwing them a secret kiss of devotion. Even secret worship of creation would deny the God above. To give to creation the honor owed to the Creator is a serious sin.

BSA: kiss (“a gesture of worship or affection”): Blowing a kiss toward the heavens was a sign of worship in the ancient world.

See also: Deuteronomy 4:19; Romans 1:25.

Job 31:29-30

Job did not gloat over an enemy’s downfall or wish him dead with a curse. Delighting in another’s pain is a hidden sin of the heart. Job claims a mercy that reaches even those who hate him.

BSA: rejoiced (“felt intense gladness, been delighted”): Job rejects even the inward pleasure at an enemy’s fall, not only outward revenge.

See also: Proverbs 24:17; Matthew 5:44.

Job 31:31-32

Job’s household could testify to his generosity, since there was always food for all. No traveler had to sleep in the street, because his door stood open. His hospitality was open to strangers who could never repay him.

BSA: open (“unlocked, accessible”): Job’s home was never closed to someone in need.

See also: Hebrews 13:2.

Job 31:33-34

Job says he did not hide his sin as Adam did, nor stay silent out of fear of the crowd’s scorn. He had nothing he needed to conceal. The phrase may also be read ‘as men do’, so some Christians read it as general human behavior.

BSA: hiding (“concealing or keeping secret”): Job did not bury guilt in his heart, since concealment makes sin worse.

See also: Genesis 3:8; Proverbs 28:13.

Job 31:35-37

Job cries for someone to hear him. He signs his defense and asks God to answer and his accuser to write out the charges. He would wear it like a crown and approach God like a prince, confident because his conscience is clear.

BSA: signature (“my mark, a sign of my integrity”): Job puts his name to his defense, like a man sealing his oath. indictment (“a written charge, a book of accusation”): Job wants the charges against him written out in full so he can answer them.

Job 31:38-40

Job ends with his land. If he took its produce unpaid or crushed those who worked it, let thorns and weeds grow in place of wheat and barley. He closes by calling the very soil to witness. With this, his speeches end.

BSA: cries out (“to cry out for help, accuse”): The ground itself is pictured as a witness that would accuse him if he had wronged its workers.

See also: Genesis 4:10; James 5:4.