Job 31

Berean Standard Bible

Chapter summary

Job details his personal conduct and integrity by pronouncing a series of conditional self-curses regarding potential sins. He asserts that he has avoided lustful gazes, falsehood, deceit, adultery, and mistreatment of his servants, the poor, widows, and the fatherless. Job further denies placing his trust in gold, worshiping heavenly bodies, rejoicing in an enemy's ruin, or failing to host travelers and conceal his guilt. He calls upon the Almighty to answer him and provide an indictment, expressing his readiness to present his record publicly. Job concludes his final speech by stating that if he has exploited his land or its tenants, weeds should grow instead of crops.

Summary automatically generated from the Bible text.

Words of Jesus in red

¹“I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze with desire at a virgin? ²For what is the allotment of God from above, or the heritage from the Almighty on high? ³Does not disaster come to the unjust and calamity to the workers of iniquity? ⁴Does He not see my ways and count my every step? ⁵If I have walked in falsehood or my foot has rushed to deceit, ⁶let God weigh me with honest scales, that He may know my integrity. ⁷If my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has followed my eyes, or if impurity has stuck to my hands, ⁸then may another eat what I have sown, and may my crops be uprooted. ⁹If my heart has been enticed by my neighbor’s wife, or I have lurked at his door, ¹⁰then may my own wife grind grain for another, and may other men sleep with her. ¹¹For that would be a heinous crime, an iniquity to be judged. ¹²For it is a fire that burns down to Abaddon; it would root out my entire harvest. ¹³If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or maidservant when they made a complaint against me, ¹⁴what will I do when God rises to judge? How will I answer when called to account? ¹⁵Did not He who made me in the womb also make them? Did not the same One form us in the womb? ¹⁶If I have denied the desires of the poor or allowed the widow’s eyes to fail, ¹⁷if I have eaten my morsel alone, not sharing it with the fatherless— ¹⁸though from my youth I reared him as would a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow— ¹⁹if I have seen one perish for lack of clothing, or a needy man without a cloak, ²⁰if his heart has not blessed me for warming him with the fleece of my sheep, ²¹if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless because I saw that I had support in the gate, ²²then may my arm fall from my shoulder and be torn from its socket. ²³For calamity from God terrifies me, and His splendor I cannot overpower. ²⁴If I have put my trust in gold or called pure gold my security, ²⁵if I have rejoiced in my great wealth because my hand had gained so much, ²⁶if I have beheld the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor, ²⁷so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth, ²⁸this would also be an iniquity to be judged, for I would have denied God on high. ²⁹If I have rejoiced in my enemy’s ruin, or exulted when evil befell him— ³⁰I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for his life with a curse— ³¹if the men of my house have not said, ‘Who is there who has not had his fill?’— ³²but no stranger had to lodge on the street, for my door has been open to the traveler— ³³if I have covered my transgressions like Adam by hiding my guilt in my heart, ³⁴because I greatly feared the crowds and the contempt of the clans terrified me, so that I kept silent and would not go outside— ³⁵(Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature. Let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser compose an indictment. ³⁶Surely I would carry it on my shoulder and wear it like a crown. ³⁷I would give account of all my steps; I would approach Him like a prince.)— ³⁸if my land cries out against me and its furrows weep together, ³⁹if I have devoured its produce without payment or broken the spirit of its tenants, ⁴⁰then let briers grow instead of wheat and stinkweed instead of barley.” Thus conclude the words of Job.