Job 31

General context

Job continues, listing wrongs he has not done and calling penalties on himself if he has. He made a covenant with his eyes not to think upon a maid, since destruction belongs to the wicked and God counts all his steps. If he walked with vanity, let him be weighed in an even balance; if his step turned aside, let him sow and another eat. If his heart was deceived by a woman or he lay in wait at his neighbour's door, let his wife grind for another, for that is an iniquity to be punished by the judges. If he despised his servants' cause, what will he answer God, who made them both in the womb? If he withheld from the poor or caused the widow's eyes to fail, ate alone without the fatherless, saw anyone perish for want of clothing, or lifted his hand against the fatherless, let his arm fall from his shoulder. If he made gold his hope or kissed his hand to the sun or moon, that too would be punishable, a denial of God above. He did not rejoice at his enemy's fall or curse him; the stranger did not lodge in the street; he did not hide his transgressions or keep silent from fear. He wishes someone would hear him, that the Almighty would answer and that his adversary had written a book, which he would bind on as a crown and carry to God like a prince. If his land cried against him because he ate its fruit without paying or cost its owners their lives, let thistles grow instead of wheat. The words of Job are ended.

Cited passages: Job 31:1, Job 31:3, Job 31:4, Job 31:6, Job 31:8, Job 31:9, Job 31:10, Job 31:11, Job 31:13, Job 31:15, Job 31:16, Job 31:17, Job 31:19, Job 31:21, Job 31:22, Job 31:24, Job 31:26, Job 31:27, Job 31:28, Job 31:29, Job 31:31, Job 31:32, Job 31:33, Job 31:34, Job 31:35, Job 31:36, Job 31:37, Job 31:38, Job 31:40

Job 31 (KJV)

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Historical context

The chapter closes with the narrator's line, "The words of Job are ended," and the next chapter confirms that the three men then ceased to answer him. Everything before that line is Job speaking. The oaths are conditional: each "If" names a wrong, and the "Then" names a penalty Job accepts should the wrong be true. Verse 33 reads "If I covered my transgressions as Adam" in the KJV; the chapter does not expand on the comparison. Two wrongs are said to be "an iniquity to be punished by the judges" or "by the judge," but no law or court is named. Job speaks of his manservant and maidservant, his wife, his household, his land and its owners, and of "my help in the gate," all without naming a place. The "adversary" whose written book Job wishes for is not identified; the wish that "the Almighty would answer me" is Job's, and in this chapter no answer comes. The denials of oppressing the poor, the widow and the fatherless correspond to the charges Eliphaz made in chapter 22; the text presents both as claims and provides no narrated adjudication here.

Cited passages: Job 31:40, Job 32:1, Job 31:7, Job 31:8, Job 31:33, Job 31:11, Job 31:28, Job 31:21, Job 31:35, Job 31:16, Job 22:7

Literary context

The chapter is built on the pattern "If ... then let," a self-curse repeated across the whole speech. The wrongs move outward: the eye and the maid, the step and the hand, the neighbour's wife, the servants, the poor, the widow, the fatherless, the naked, gold, sun and moon, the enemy, the household, the stranger, hidden sin, and finally the land itself. The penalties are concrete: another eats what he sows, his wife grinds for another, his arm falls from the shoulder, thistles replace wheat. Reasons interrupt the pattern, grounding the oath in God: God counts his steps, God made master and servant alike in the womb, and destruction from God was a terror to him. Set against chapter 22, the list answers Eliphaz's charges term for term: Eliphaz said Job withheld bread from the hungry and stripped the naked; Job swears the fatherless ate his morsel and the poor were warmed with the fleece of his sheep. Near the end the oath breaks into a wish, "Oh that one would hear me!", picking up the earlier "Oh that I knew where I might find him," and imagining the accusation as a written book he would wear as a crown. The final line, spoken by the narrator, shuts the speech.

Cited passages: Job 31:5, Job 31:8, Job 31:10, Job 31:22, Job 31:40, Job 31:4, Job 31:15, Job 22:7, Job 31:17, Job 31:20, Job 31:35, Job 23:3, Job 31:36, Job 31:23

Key moments

1. Covenant with the eyes (Job 31:1). Job opens by saying he bound his eyes not to look upon a maid.
2. Weighed in an even balance (Job 31:6). Job asks to be weighed so that God may know his integrity.
3. One maker in the womb (Job 31:15). Job grounds fair treatment of servants in their shared maker.
4. Bread shared with the fatherless (Job 31:17). Job swears he did not eat his morsel alone.
5. Gold not his hope (Job 31:24). Job denies trusting in gold or kissing his hand to the sun and moon.
6. Oh that one would hear me (Job 31:35). Job asks for the Almighty's answer and a written charge from his adversary.
7. The words of Job are ended (Job 31:40). Job's final self-curse about his land is followed by the narrator closing his speech.

For reflection

Job wishes his adversary had written a book of charges, and says he would carry it on his shoulder and bind it as a crown. Why would a man who denies every accusation want the accusation written down?

People in this chapter

• Adam
• Job