Job 31
The full text of Job 31 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew. Free to read.
1 I have made a covenant with my eyes;
how then could I gaze at a virgin?
2 What would be my portion from God above
and my heritage from the Almighty on high?
3 Is not calamity for the unrighteous
and disaster for those who work iniquity?
4 Does he not see my ways
and number all my steps?
5 If I have walked with falsehood
and my foot has hurried to deceit —
6 let me be weighed in a just balance,
that God may know my integrity!
7 If my step has turned aside from the way
and my heart has gone after my eyes
and if any spot has stuck to my hands —
8 then let me sow and another eat,
and let what grows for me be uprooted.
9 If my heart has been enticed toward a woman,
and I have lurked at my neighbor's door,
10 then let my wife grind for another,
and let others bow down over her.
11 For that would be a heinous crime;
that would be an iniquity before the judges.
12 For that is a fire that consumes as far as Abaddon,
and it would burn all my harvest to the root.
13 If I have rejected the cause of my servant
or my female servant when they brought a complaint against me,
14 what then shall I do when God rises up?
When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?
15 Did not he who made me in the womb make him?
And did not the same God form us in the womb?
16 If I have withheld what the poor desired,
or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
17 or have eaten my morsel alone,
and the fatherless has not eaten of it —
18 for from my youth the fatherless grew up with me as with a father,
and from my mother's womb I guided the widow —
19 if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,
or the needy without covering,
20 if his body has not blessed me,
and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,
21 if I have raised my hand against the fatherless,
because I saw my help in the gate,
22 then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder,
and let my arm be broken from its socket.
23 For I was in terror of calamity from God,
and I could not have faced his majesty.
24 If I have made gold my trust
or called fine gold my confidence,
25 if I have rejoiced because my wealth was abundant
or because my hand had gotten much,
26 if I have looked at the sun when it shone,
or the moon moving in splendor,
27 and my heart has been secretly enticed,
and my mouth has kissed my hand —
28 this also would be an iniquity before the judges,
for I would have been false to God above.
29 If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me,
or exulted when evil overtook him —
30 I have not let my mouth sin
by asking for his life with a curse —
31 if the men of my tent have not said,
'Who is there that has not been filled with his meat?'
32 the sojourner has not lodged in the street;
I have opened my doors to the traveler —
33 if I have concealed my transgressions as others do
by hiding my iniquity in my bosom,
34 because I stood in great fear of the multitude,
and the contempt of clans terrified me,
so that I kept silence and would not go out of doors —
35 Oh, that I had one to hear me!
Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!
Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary!
36 Surely I would carry it on my shoulder;
I would bind it on me as a crown.
37 I would give him an account of all my steps;
like a prince I would approach him.
38 If my land has cried out against me
and its furrows have wept together,
39 if I have eaten its yield without payment
and made its owners breathe their last,
40 then let thorns grow instead of wheat,
and stinking weeds instead of barley.
The words of Job are ended.
Translation notes (15)
- Job 31:1a The Hebrew bethulah (בְּתוּלָה) denotes a young woman of marriageable age, with virginity implied rather than asserted. Because the verse concerns a covenant against lustful gazing, some interpreters, notably Marvin Pope, have proposed an allusion to the Canaanite goddess Anat, styled 'the Virgin' in Ugaritic texts; the ordinary lexical sense is retained here.
- Job 31:6a Hebrew moznê tsedeq, literally 'balances of righteousness', evokes calibrated trade scales as a metaphor for impartial judgment. 'Integrity' translates tummi, 'blamelessness', from the root tmm. The image alludes to biblical laws requiring honest weights and measures.
- Job 31:10a "Grind for another" translates the Hebrew verb tachan, 'grind' (טחן), the milling of grain, a chore associated with female slaves and captives; the phrase implies enslavement to another household. The parallel "others bow down over her" uses kara', 'kneel' (כרע) as a sexual euphemism for violation.
- Job 31:11a Hebrew avon pelilim is contested: pelilim may mean 'judges', hence 'an iniquity before the judges', or it may be an abstract noun meaning 'assessment' or 'punishable offense'. The word appears elsewhere only in Exodus 21:22 and Deuteronomy 32:31, too rarely to settle the question. Either way, Job classes adultery as a crime subject to formal judgment, not merely private wrongdoing.
- Job 31:12a Abaddon transliterates avaddon (אֲבַדּוֹן), 'destruction', from the verb avad, 'to perish', and names the realm of the dead as the place of ruin, often paired with Sheol (Job 26:6; Proverbs 15:11). Adultery is thus pictured as a fire whose reach extends to the underworld itself. In Revelation 9:11 the name reappears as a personified angel, glossed in Greek as Apollyon, 'destroyer'.
- Job 31:15a The Hebrew ends with echad, 'one': literally, 'one fashioned us in the womb', leaving open whether the emphasis falls on the one God or the one manner of formation shared by master and servant. Two distinct words for womb appear, beten and rechem. Job grounds the claims of his servants in common creation, a conviction echoed in Proverbs 22:2.
- Job 31:18a Hebrew gadalani, 'he made me grow,' literally takes Job as the object, 'he brought me up as a father,' which is awkward in context; by sense the orphan is the subject: 'the fatherless grew up with me as with a father.' 'From my mother's womb' is hyperbole for lifelong practice; anchennah, 'I guided her,' refers to the widow.
- Job 31:22a Hebrew qaneh (קנה) usually means 'reed' but here denotes a joint or socket, thus 'from its socket.' The parallelism of ketef (כתף), 'shoulder,' with shekhem (שכם), 'shoulder/back,' evokes violent dislocation and fits the ancient oath-curse context.
- Job 31:26a The Masoretic Text reads or, 'light' (אור), a metonym for 'the sun'; the Septuagint likewise has the sun. 'Moving in splendor' renders Hebrew halakh beyaqar (הלך ביקר), literally 'walked in splendor,' an idiom for lunar brightness. The imagery reflects ancient Near Eastern astral worship, anticipated by the hand-kissing of the next verse.
- Job 31:27a The Hebrew reads literally "my hand kissed my mouth" (vattishaq yadi lefi), describing the gesture of raising the hand to the lips and throwing a kiss toward the sun or moon, a widely attested act of homage to heavenly bodies in the ancient Near East. Kissing as a gesture of idolatrous devotion appears also in 1 Kings 19:18 and Hosea 13:2.
- Job 31:31a The Hebrew word rendered 'meat' here is lechem (לֶחֶם), which refers to food in general, often specifically bread. The word can mean 'food' in a broad sense, not exclusively animal flesh.
- Job 31:33a Hebrew ke-adam (כְאָדָם) may mean either 'as humankind does' or 'as Adam did,' since adam serves both as the common noun 'man' and the personal name. The latter reading would allude to Adam hiding from God after his transgression in Genesis 3. The generic sense, rendered here as 'as others do', suits Job's claim that he never practiced the concealment common to humanity.
- Job 31:35a Hebrew tav (תָּו) names the last letter of the alphabet, anciently written as a cross-shaped mark; the same word denotes the mark set on foreheads in Ezekiel 9:4. Here it functions as Job's legal signature, formally attesting his oath of innocence and demanding a written indictment in return.
- Job 31:39a Hebrew koach, 'strength' (כח), literally 'its strength', is an idiom for a field's produce, rendered here as 'its yield'. 'Made its owners breathe their last' renders the Hiphil of puach, 'to breathe, pant' (פוח), which may mean 'exhausted its owners' rather than killed them. The language reflects ancient agrarian abuses—consuming produce without payment and ruining landholders through debt or rent.
- Job 31:40a Hebrew bo'shah 'stinking weeds' is a hapax legomenon; its exact identification is uncertain, often taken as 'darnel' (Lolium temulentum), a noxious grass that infests grain fields.
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