CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Job 31 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/job/31.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/job/31.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/job/31-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Ellicott</a> > <a href="../job/">Job</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../job/30.htm" title="Job 30">◄</a> Job 31 <a href="../job/32.htm" title="Job 32">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</div><div class="chap"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/31-1.htm">Job 31:1</a></div><div class="verse">I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?</div><span class= "bld">XXXI.</span><p>(1) <span class= "bld">I made a covenant with mine eyes.</span>—Job makes one grand profession of innocence, rehearsing his manner of life from the first; and here he does not content himself with traversing the accusations of his friends, but professes his innocence also of sins less manifest to the observance of others, and affecting the secret conduct and the heart—namely, sensual transgression and idolatry. His object, therefore, is to show his friends that he has really been more upright than their standard demanded or than they supposed him to be, till his affliction made them suspect him; and this uprightness was the consequence of rigid and inflexible adherence to principle, for he made a covenant with his eyes, as the avenues of sinful desires. (Comp. <a href="/matthew/5-28.htm" title="But I say to you, That whoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.">Matthew 5:28</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/31-2.htm">Job 31:2</a></div><div class="verse">For what portion of God <i>is there</i> from above? and <i>what</i> inheritance of the Almighty from on high?</div>(2) <span class= "bld">What portion of God is there from above?</span>—Comp. the remonstrance of Joseph (<a href="/genesis/39-9.htm" title="There is none greater in this house than I; neither has he kept back any thing from me but you, because you are his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?">Genesis 39:9</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/31-3.htm">Job 31:3</a></div><div class="verse"><i>Is</i> not destruction to the wicked? and a strange <i>punishment</i> to the workers of iniquity?</div>(3) <span class= "bld">Is</span> <span class= "bld">not</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e., </span>Is not this the <span class= "ital">portion </span>of <a href="/job/31-2.htm" title="For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?">Job 31:2</a>?<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/31-4.htm">Job 31:4</a></div><div class="verse">Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?</div>(4) <span class= "bld">Doth not he.</span>—The “He” is emphatic, obviously meaning God. His appeal is to the All-seeing knowledge of God, whom nothing escapes, and who is judge of the hearts and reins (<a href="/psalms/7-9.htm" title="Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God tries the hearts and reins.">Psalm 7:9</a>; <a href="/psalms/44-21.htm" title="Shall not God search this out? for he knows the secrets of the heart.">Psalm 44:21</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/17-10.htm" title="I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.">Jeremiah 17:10</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/20-12.htm" title="But, O LORD of hosts, that try the righteous, and see the reins and the heart, let me see your vengeance on them: for to you have I opened my cause.">Jeremiah 20:12</a>). (Comp. <a href="/acts/25-11.htm" title="For if I be an offender, or have committed any thing worthy of death, I refuse not to die: but if there be none of these things whereof these accuse me, no man may deliver me to them. I appeal to Caesar.">Acts 25:11</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/31-7.htm">Job 31:7</a></div><div class="verse">If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands;</div>(7) If my <span class= "bld">step hath turned out </span>of <span class= "bld">the way</span>—The form of the expression is very emphatic: the narrow way of strict integrity and righteousness. (Compare the expression applied to the first believers, <a href="/acts/9-2.htm" title="And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.">Acts 9:2</a>—<span class= "ital">men of the way.</span>)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/31-10.htm">Job 31:10</a></div><div class="verse"><i>Then</i> let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.</div>(10) <span class= "bld">Then let my wife grind</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.</span>, perform all menial offices, like a slave.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/31-13.htm">Job 31:13</a></div><div class="verse">If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me;</div>(13) <span class= "bld">If I did despise.</span>—In <a href="/job/22-8.htm" title="But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honorable man dwelled in it.">Job 22:8</a>, Eliphaz had insinuated that Job had favoured the rich and powerful, but had oppressed and ground down the weak. He now meets this accusation, and affirms that he had regarded his own servants even as brethren, because partakers of a common humanity.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/31-15.htm">Job 31:15</a></div><div class="verse">Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?</div>(15) <span class= "bld">Did not he that made me in the womb make him?</span>—He here meets the charges of Eliphaz (<a href="/context/job/22-6.htm" title="For you have taken a pledge from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing.">Job 22:6-7</a>; <a href="/job/22-9.htm" title="You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.">Job 22:9</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/31-18.htm">Job 31:18</a></div><div class="verse">(For from my youth he was brought up with me, as <i>with</i> a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;)</div>(18) <span class= "bld">For from my youth he.</span>—The pronouns refer to the fatherless of <a href="/job/31-17.htm" title="Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless has not eaten thereof;">Job 31:17</a> and to the widow of <a href="/job/31-16.htm" title="If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;">Job 31:16</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/31-19.htm">Job 31:19</a></div><div class="verse">If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;</div>(19) <span class= "bld">If I have seen any perish for want of.</span>—Or, <span class= "ital">any wanderer without.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/31-23.htm">Job 31:23</a></div><div class="verse">For destruction <i>from</i> God <i>was</i> a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.</div>(23) <span class= "bld">I could not endure.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">I was unable to act thus.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/31-24.htm">Job 31:24</a></div><div class="verse">If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, <i>Thou art</i> my confidence;</div>(24) <span class= "bld">If I have made gold my hope.</span>—He here refers to the admonition of Eliphaz (<a href="/context/job/22-23.htm" title="If you return to the Almighty, you shall be built up, you shall put away iniquity far from your tabernacles.">Job 22:23-24</a>), and declares that such had not been his practice.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/31-26.htm">Job 31:26</a></div><div class="verse">If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking <i>in</i> brightness;</div>(26) <span class= "bld">If I beheld the sun.</span>—It is remarkable that the kind of idolatry repudiated by Job is that only of sun and moon worship. He seems to have been ignorant of the more material and degraded kinds.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/31-28.htm">Job 31:28</a></div><div class="verse">This also <i>were</i> an iniquity <i>to be punished by</i> the judge: for I should have denied the God <i>that is</i> above.</div>(28) <span class= "bld">By the judge.</span>—Rather, perhaps, <span class= "ital">by my judge, i.e., </span>God; unless, indeed, there be any reference to the Mosaic law (<a href="/context/deuteronomy/17-2.htm" title="If there be found among you, within any of your gates which the LORD your God gives you, man or woman, that has worked wickedness in the sight of the LORD your God, in transgressing his covenant,">Deuteronomy 17:2-7</a>), which does not seem likely.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/31-29.htm">Job 31:29</a></div><div class="verse">If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him:</div>(29) <span class= "bld">If I rejoiced at the destruction.</span>—He now proceeds to the realm of the wishes and thoughts, and is, therefore, far more thorough and searching with his own case than his friends had been.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/31-31.htm">Job 31:31</a></div><div class="verse">If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied.</div>(31) <span class= "bld">Oh that</span> <span class= "bld">we had of his flesh!</span>—We should never be satisfied therewith. (Comp. the similar expression, <a href="/job/19-22.htm" title="Why do you persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?">Job 19:22</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/31-32.htm">Job 31:32</a></div><div class="verse">The stranger did not lodge in the street: <i>but</i> I opened my doors to the traveller.</div>(32) <span class= "bld">I opened my doors to the traveller.</span>—The manners of <a href="/context/genesis/19-2.htm" title="And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and you shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, No; but we will abide in the street all night.">Genesis 19:2-3</a>, <a href="/context/judges/19-20.htm" title="And the old man said, Peace be with you; howsoever let all your wants lie on me; only lodge not in the street.">Judges 19:20-21</a>, if not the incidents there recorded, are here implied. “The traveller” is literally <span class= "ital">the road </span>or <span class= "ital">way: i.e., </span>the wayfarer.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/31-33.htm">Job 31:33</a></div><div class="verse">If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:</div>(33) <span class= "bld">As Adam.</span>—Or, <span class= "ital">as man, i.e., </span>commonly does. There may or may not be here some indication of acquaintance with the narrative of Genesis. (See the margin.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/31-35.htm">Job 31:35</a></div><div class="verse">Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire <i>is, that</i> the Almighty would answer me, and <i>that</i> mine adversary had written a book.</div>(35) O<span class= "bld">h that one would hear me</span>!—The rendering noticed in the margin is probably the right one—<span class= "ital">Oh that I had one to hear me! Lo, here is my mark! i.e., </span>my signature, my declaration, which I am ready to subscribe; and oh that mine adversary had written a book! More correctly, perhaps, “That I had the book or indictment that my adversary hath written; would that I had it in black and white before me, that I might deal with it accordingly, and answer it point to point.” Here, then, is the same deviation from strict sequence of order that we observed in <a href="/job/29-18.htm" title="Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand.">Job 29:18</a>. <a href="/context/job/31-35.htm" title="Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that my adversary had written a book.">Job 31:35-37</a> ought to come after <a href="/context/job/31-38.htm" title="If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain;">Job 31:38-40</a>; but the writer’s ideas of symmetry and order were not as ours, and this, in some respects, may be more natural, though, strictly speaking, less correct.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/31-37.htm">Job 31:37</a></div><div class="verse">I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him.</div>(37) <span class= "bld">I would declare</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e.</span>, “I would readily give an account of all my actions, and meet him with alacrity and perfect confidence.” Others suppose the meaning to be, “I would meet him as I would meet a prince, with the utmost deference and respect, not at all as an enemy, but as one worthy of all honour and regard.” The actual meaning is uncertain. On the other hand, he has been spoken of by his friends: as a fool (<a href="/job/5-2.htm" title="For wrath kills the foolish man, and envy slays the silly one.">Job 5:2</a>), by Eliphaz; as a man full of words, a liar, and a mocker (<a href="/context/job/11-2.htm" title="Should not the multitude of words be answered? and should a man full of talk be justified?">Job 11:2-3</a>), by Zophar; as perverse, wicked, and iniquitous (<a href="/job/11-12.htm" title="For vain men would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass's colt.">Job 11:12</a>; <a href="/job/11-14.htm" title="If iniquity be in your hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in your tabernacles.">Job 11:14</a>); a blasphemer and a hypocrite, by Eliphaz (<a href="/context/job/15-4.htm" title="Yes, you cast off fear, and restrain prayer before God.">Job 15:4-5</a>; <a href="/job/15-13.htm" title="That you turn your spirit against God, and let such words go out of your mouth?">Job 15:13</a>; <a href="/job/15-16.htm" title="How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinks iniquity like water?">Job 15:16</a>; <a href="/job/15-34.htm" title="For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.">Job 15:34</a>, &c.); as wicked, a robber, and ignorant of God, by Bildad (<a href="/job/18-5.htm" title="Yes, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.">Job 18:5</a>; <a href="/job/18-14.htm" title="His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors.">Job 18:14</a>); as wicked and a hypocrite, by Zophar (<a href="/job/20-5.htm" title="That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?">Job 20:5</a>); as extortionate and oppressive (<a href="/job/31-15.htm" title="Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?">Job 31:15</a>; <a href="/job/31-19.htm" title="If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;">Job 31:19</a>, &c.); as a tyrant and an impious man, by Eliphaz (<a href="/job/22-5.htm" title="Is not your wickedness great? and your iniquities infinite?">Job 22:5</a>; <a href="/job/22-9.htm" title="You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.">Job 22:9</a>; <a href="/job/22-13.htm" title="And you say, How does God know? can he judge through the dark cloud?">Job 22:13</a>; <a href="/job/22-17.htm" title="Which said to God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them?">Job 22:17</a>, &c.).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/31-38.htm">Job 31:38</a></div><div class="verse">If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain;</div>(38) <span class= "bld">Or that the furrows likewise thereof complain.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">Or if the furrows thereof weep together</span>—a strong impersonation to express the consequence of oppression and wrong-doing. It is to be observed that throughout this defence Job has far more than traversed the indictment of his friends. He has shown that he has not only not broken the moral law, as they insinuated, but, much more, has shown himself exemplary in all the relations of life, so that, according to the narrator of the history, he was not only one that <span class= "ital">feared God and eschewed evil </span>(<a href="/job/1-1.htm" title="There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.">Job 1:1</a>), but also was <span class= "ital">perfect, i.e., </span>of sincere and consistent conduct and <span class= "ital">upright.</span><p><span class= "bld"> <div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. Used by Permission. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a></div></div></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="left"><a href="../job/30.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="Job 30"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="Job 30" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../job/32.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="Job 32"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="Job 32" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="rightbox"><div class="padright"><div id="pic"><iframe width="100%" height="860" scrolling="no" src="//biblescan.com/mpc/job/31-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></div></div><div id="rightbox4"><div class="padright2"><div id="spons1"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td class="sp1"><iframe width="122" height="860" scrolling="no" src="/commentaries/ellicott/sidemenu.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></div><div id="bot"><br /><br /><div align="center"> <script id="3d27ed63fc4348d5b062c4527ae09445"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=51ce25d5-1a8c-424a-8695-4bd48c750f35&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script> <script id="b817b7107f1d4a7997da1b3c33457e03"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=cb0edd8b-b416-47eb-8c6d-3cc96561f7e8&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-2'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-0' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-3'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-1' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div align="center" id='div-gpt-ad-1531425649696-0'> </div><br /><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:200px;height:200px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3753401421161123" data-ad-slot="3592799687"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script> <br /><br /> </div><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhchap.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></td></tr></table></body></html>