Job 31

The TorahRooted Bible (TRB), translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek.

Job's oath of innocence

¹ I made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin? ² For what would be the portion from Eloah above, and the heritage from Shaddai on high? ³ Is not calamity for the unrighteous, and disaster for the workers of iniquity? ⁴ Does He not see my ways and count all my steps?

⁵ If I have walked with falsehood, or my foot has hurried to deceit, ⁶ let me be weighed in a just balance, and let Eloah know my integrity! ⁷ If my step has turned aside from the way, and my heart has gone after my eyes, and any spot has clung to my hands, ⁸ then let me sow, and another eat, and let what grows for me be rooted out.

⁹ If my heart has been enticed by a woman, and I have lain in wait 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 to be punished by the judges; ¹² for that would be a fire that consumes as far as Abaddon, and it would root out all my increase.

¹³ If I have rejected the cause of my servant or my maidservant when they brought a complaint against me, ¹⁴ what then could I do when El rises up? When He calls me to account, what could I answer Him? ¹⁵ Did not He who made me in the womb make him? And did not the same One fashion us in the womb?

¹⁶ If I have withheld from the poor what they 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 he grew up with me as with a father, and from my mother's womb I guided the widow), ¹⁹ if I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing, or the needy without covering, ²⁰ if his loins have 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 I had support in the gate, ²² then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder blade, and let my arm be broken from its socket. ²³ For calamity from El was a terror to me, and because of His majesty I could not do such things.

²⁴ If I have made gold my confidence, or called fine gold my trust, ²⁵ if I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had found 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 to be punished by the judges, for I would have denied El 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 stranger did not lodge in the street; I opened my doors to the traveler), ³³ if I have covered my transgressions like Adam, by hiding my iniquity in my bosom, ³⁴ because I stood in dread of the great multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silent and did not go out of doors.

Job's signature

³⁵ Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my mark; let Shaddai answer me! Oh, that I had the indictment my adversary has written! 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, or caused its owners to lose their life, ⁴⁰ let thorns grow instead of wheat, and stinkweed instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.

Notes

• 31:1 In this chapter Job takes a series of oaths of innocence: "If I have…" followed by a curse on himself if it were true (verses 8, 10, 22, 40). Such an oath placed the matter in the hands of Elohim: if Job were lying, he was calling judgment down on himself. He begins not with deeds but with the eyes and the heart: he had made a covenant (berit) with his own eyes not to look with desire at a young woman (compare Yeshua's words in Matthew 5:28).
• 31:16 Verses 16-22 answer Eliphaz's charges (22:6-9; see the note at 22:5). He said that Job withheld bread from the hungry, stripped the naked and sent widows away empty; Job swears that he never ate his bread alone, never left the poor without clothing, and never raised his hand against the fatherless, even when he had support in the gate, where cases were judged (29:7). He had cared for the orphan and the widow all his life (verse 18; compare 29:12-17), and if it were not so, let the arm he raised fall from its socket (verse 22).
• 31:26 "The sun" is literally "the light" (or). Job swears that he never let the splendor of the sun and moon draw his heart into secret worship of them, the temptation the Torah warns against (Deuteronomy 4:19; 17:3). "My mouth has kissed my hand" is literally "my hand has kissed my mouth," probably a kiss blown toward the heavenly lights in homage, as idols were kissed (1 Kings 19:18; Hosea 13:2). Such worship, even in secret, would be "an iniquity to be punished by the judges," as adultery would be (verse 11), because it would deny El above, the Maker of the sun and moon.
• 31:33 "Like Adam" (ke-adam) can also be read "as men do," since adam is also the ordinary Hebrew word for "man, mankind," and many versions take it that way (the same phrase in Hosea 6:7 is read both ways). Many readers, ancient and modern, hear an allusion to Adam, who hid himself from Elohim after he sinned and laid the blame on another (Genesis 3:8-12). Either way, Job swears that he never covered his sin or kept it hidden for fear of what people would say (verse 34; compare Proverbs 28:13).
• 31:35 "My mark" is tav, the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, written in the ancient script as a cross or an X and used as a mark or signature (compare Ezekiel 9:4, 6). Job signs his defense like a sworn statement in court and calls on Shaddai to answer it; "my adversary" is literally "the man of my case," his opponent at law, which for Job seems to be Elohim Himself. He has long asked to meet Elohim in court and hear the charge (9:32-35; 13:22; 23:3-7; see the notes at 9:33 and 23:7), and has looked to a witness on high (16:19). With these words the debate is closed: "The words of Job are ended" (verse 40), and he speaks again only briefly, in answer to Yahweh (40:3-5; 42:1-6).

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