Chapter Thirty-One

Job’s third speech to his friends. 1–40. Job has been punished without cause and unjustly, since in his previous life he represented an example of the purity that was possible for a person in moral and religious respects.

Job 31:1. I made a covenant with my eyes that I would not look at a young woman. First of all, Job was so chaste that he avoided lustful thoughts. He made an agreement with his eyes (“made a covenant”), through which corruption enters the soul (Gen 3:6; Prov 23:33), to not cast impure looks at a young woman (Prov 6:25; Sir 9:5).

Job 31:2. What then is my portion from God above? What inheritance from the Almighty from on high? Job 31:3. Is not destruction for the wicked, and calamity for those who do evil? Job 31:4. Does He not see my ways and count all my steps? The motive for suppressing sin in its inception was the thought of punishment (“portion,” “inheritance”; cf. Job 20:29) for unchastity (Gen 39:9), which, given the understanding of God as an all-knowing Judge (v. 4; cf. Ps 138:2), appeared to be inevitable.

Job 31:5. If I have walked with vanity and if my foot has hurried after deceit— Job 31:6. Let me be weighed on just scales, and God will know my integrity. Job was free from further falsehood in the form of hidden, masked lies (Hebrew “shav”; cf. Job 11:11; Synodal—“vanity”) and deception (Hebrew “mirma”). No such vices can be found in him by the most impartial judgment (“Let me be weighed... on scales”; cf. Dan 5:27); he will come forth from it with integrity (cf. Job 1:1).

Job 31:7. If my steps have turned from the way and my heart has followed after my eyes, and if anything unclean has clung to my hands, Job 31:8. Let me sow and another eat, and may my crops be uprooted. For turning aside from the path indicated by God’s truth (Job 23:11), beginning with the desire of the eyes (Gen 3:6; 1 John 2:16), which draw the soul onto the path of sin (Prov 23:33), which in turn affects the hands, forcing them to defile themselves with something unclean (“clung to my hands”; cf. Deut 13:17), in this case the acquisition of another’s property, Job is ready to bear the deserved punishment. His sowings should be enjoyed by another (v. 8: cf. Job 5:5; Lev 26:16; Deut 28:30 and following), and all the produce of the earth belonging to him should be destroyed altogether. The Synodal expression “crops” translates the Hebrew word “tzetza’im,” which means, first, “descendants” (Job 5:25), and second, “produce of the earth” (Isa 34:1). Judging by the context, it is used here in the latter sense.

Job 31:9. If my heart has been seduced by a woman and I have lurked at my neighbor’s door— Job 31:10. Let my wife grind for another, and let others bend over her, Avoiding lustful thoughts (v. 1), Job is all the more innocent in actual adultery. His heart was not seduced by the wife of another, and he did not seek cunning means (“lurked at”; cf. Prov 7:12) to defile his neighbor’s family hearth. The punishment for this was to be the loss of his own wife, her transformation into a slave—concubine of another: “grind for another” (cf. Exod 11:5; Isa 47:2).

Job 31:11. For that is a crime, an iniquity punishable by judgment; Job 31:12. It is a fire that consumes even to destruction, which would uproot all my gain. The inevitability of such punishment is explained by the fact that adultery is a crime (Hebrew “zimma”—sin of the flesh; Lev 18:17), subject to requital by God’s judgment (Lev 20:10). In its consequences it is an all-consuming, boundless (“consumes even to destruction”—to “avaddon”; cf. Job 26:6) fire (cf. Prov 6:26-29; Sir 9:9), accompanied by the ruin of the entire estate of the adulterer (Prov 5:9).

Job 31:13. If I have disregarded the rights of my male servant and my female servant when they filed a complaint against me, Job 31:14. What then would I do when God rose up? And when He looked on me, what would I answer Him? Job 31:15. Did not He, Who created me in the womb, create him also, and fashion us alike in the womb? Job never abused his rights as a powerful person with respect to his servants—he did not deny them fair judgment. The motive for this was fear of divine punishment. Despite all their inequality and difference in status, master and servant are equally creatures of God and children of one heavenly Father, brothers to one another (Mal 2:10; Eph 6:9). And God would not leave without vengeance those who wronged His children.

Job 31:16. Have I denied the desires of the poor and caused the widow’s eye to languish? Job 31:17. Did I alone eat my morsel and the orphan did not eat of it? Job 31:18. For from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow. Job 31:19. If I have seen anyone perishing without clothing and a poor person without covering,— Job 31:20. Did not his loins bless me, and was he not warmed with the fleece of my sheep? Not refusing to help those in need of various kinds (cf. Job 22:7), not exhausting the patience of a widow seeking help with empty promises (“languish”; cf. 1 Sam 2:33), Job was a protector of orphans, widows, and the poor. He shared bread with the former, was their father; for the latter from the earliest period of his life he took the place of a son; and the third group he warmed against the cold, providing clothing (cf. Job 29:13).

Job 31:21. If I have raised my hand against the orphan because I saw help for myself at the gate,— Much more so, Job was not an oppressor of orphans (“raise my hand”; cf. Isa 10:32; Zech 2:9), even though he could have done so, hoping for impunity from the judges (“because I saw help for myself at the gate”; cf. Job 29:7), over whom he had influence (Ibid., v. 8 and following).

Job 31:22. Let my shoulder fall away from its socket, and my arm be broken at the elbow, Let the violent person be deprived of the organ of violence—the hand.

Job 31:23. For the fear of God’s punishment was terrible for me; I could not prevail against His majesty. Violence was impossible for Job: he was restrained from it by fear before God’s majesty.

Job 31:24. Did I put my trust in gold and say to fine gold, “You are my confidence”? Job 31:25. Did I rejoice because my wealth was great and my hand had gained much? A generous philanthropist (v. 17–20), Job was free from greed, did not consider earthly treasures the greatest good, the foundation of his well-being (cf. Job 22:25; Ps 61:11; 1 Tim 6:17). Therefore, it was not in his nature to rejoice at the increase of wealth.

Job 31:26. If I have looked at the sun when it shone and the moon moving in splendor, Job 31:27. And have been secretly enticed in my heart, and my mouth has kissed my hand,— Free from the service of gold (Col 3:5), Job can all the more not be accused of actual idolatry, worship of the shining, like gold and silver, sun and moon. He was not “enticed” (cf. Deut 4:19) by their magnificent appearance, and as a sign of respect for them did not “kiss his hand.” “Kissing the hand” was a sign of reverence among the ancients. Lucian represents Indians worshipping the sun, having kissed the hand during the dance... Inter adorandum—remarks Pliny—we raise the right hand to the mouth.

Job 31:28. This also would have been iniquity punishable by judgment, for I would have denied God on high. The deification of creatures, the transfer to it of those honors which should be given to God alone, is a renunciation of Him, a crime subject to punishment (cf. Deut 4:24; Josh 24:19; Isa 13:3).

Job 31:29. Did I rejoice at the destruction of one who hated me, and did I exult when misfortune overtook him? Job 31:30. I have not allowed my mouth to sin by cursing his soul. The height of Job’s virtues was benevolence toward his enemies, which excluded malicious joy at the sight of their misfortunes (Prov 24:17) and a wish for evil at the sight of their prosperity. All of this, especially the calling of death upon a foe (v. 30), he avoided as sin.

Job 31:31. Did not the men of my tent say, “Oh, had we not been satisfied with his meat!”? Job 31:32. The stranger did not spend the night in the street; I opened my doors to the traveler. Benevolence toward his enemies was a manifestation of the humanity characteristic of Job, which extended to those completely alien to him (strangers) and was expressed in extensive hospitality. Witnesses to this were “the men of his tent,”—his servants, saying that there was no one who had not been satisfied by his dishes.

Job 31:33. If I have hidden my transgressions as Adam did, concealing my iniquity in my bosom,— Job 31:34. Then I would have feared the great throng, and the contempt of families would have terrified me, so that I kept silence and did not go out of doors. Job’s piety and morality were not merely show. If he, actually wicked, had hidden his transgressions like Adam (Hebrew “ke-adam”; Synodal—“like a man”) (Gen 3:12), then fear of being exposed, of incurring the contempt of his fellow citizens would have forced him to hide, would not have allowed him to go out of his tent (cf. Gen 3:8-10). But he enjoyed honor and respect, took part in deciding public affairs (Job 29:7-10), and consequently was free from hypocrisy.

Job 31:35. Oh, that one would hear me! Behold, here is my signature: let the Almighty answer me, and let my adversary write an indictment. Job’s defense speech relates to everything he previously said about his innocence as a seal, an authenticating signature. “Behold, here is my signature” in Hebrew is “gen tav,”—“here is my tav,” the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, used to authenticate something (Ezek 9:4). Having presented proofs of his innocence, Job desires that his opponent, that is, God, should appear to court with him bringing an indictment. Instead of “let my adversary write an indictment,” it should literally be translated from the Hebrew: “and let my opponent write his indictment.”

Job 31:36. Surely I would wear it on my shoulder and bind it like a crown upon me; Conscious of his innocence, Job cannot allow the thought that this “indictment” would prove his guilt. On the contrary, it would serve as a witness to his innocence: it would restore his dignity (“would wear it on my shoulder”; cf. Isa 9:6) and his honor (“bind it like a crown upon me”; cf. Zech 6:11).

Job 31:37. I would give him an account of all my steps; I would approach him like a prince. Therefore Job would answer God, not as a trembling Adam afraid of punishment, but as a prince, that is, boldly and fearlessly (“approach Him like a prince”).

Job 31:38. If my land has cried out against me and its furrows have wept together,— Job 31:39. If I have eaten its fruit without payment and caused the death of its owners,— Job 31:40. Then let thistles grow instead of wheat, and noxious weeds instead of barley. Job’s words are finished. If all that Job has said is false, if he is the greatest of sinners, whose punishment is demanded by inanimate nature (Job 20:27; Hab 2:11 and following)—the soil exhausted by his greed (cf. Ps 64:11); if he made life unbearable for its former owners (cf. Job 22:8), then let the curse that struck the first man (v. 40; cf. Gen 3:17-18) fall upon him in all its force. Let him be, like the first man, rejected by God.