Bible Glide

Job 31

Job 31 Summary, Context, and Full Chapter

Job closes his defense with a series of careful vows about his life and conduct. He denies sexual sin, unfair treatment, greed, and cruelty to the poor, and he asks God to judge him honestly if he is lying. The chapter shows a man insisting that his outward life and inner motives have been upright.

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What happens in Job 31?

In this chapter, Job makes his final appeal and lays out a long defense of his integrity. He says he has guarded his eyes, avoided adultery, treated servants fairly, and cared for the poor, widows, and orphans. He rejects trust in wealth, pride in success, and joy over an enemy's downfall. Job also says he has welcomed travelers and not hidden wrongdoing out of fear of people. He ends by calling for God to answer his case and by placing a final curse on his land if he has abused it.

Job 31 is the closing chapter of Job's personal defense before the speeches shift in chapter 32. It follows his deep lament in the previous chapter and gathers many of the moral claims Job has made throughout the book. The chapter functions like a sworn statement, preparing for the dialogue that follows and for God's eventual response later in the book.

Themes to notice

  • Personal integrityJob presents his life as open before God and asks to be weighed fairly.
  • Justice for the vulnerableHe emphasizes fair treatment of servants, the poor, widows, orphans, and travelers.
  • Accountability before GodJob believes every hidden motive and action will face God's judgment.

Questions for Job 31

  • What kinds of sins does Job specifically deny in this chapter, and why does that matter to his argument?
  • How does Job describe his treatment of workers and the poor, and what does that reveal about righteousness?
  • Why does Job invite God to examine him so directly at the end of the chapter?

Read the full text of Job 31 below, then open it in the reader to highlight, take notes, or ask follow-up Bible questions. No account is required to read.

Job 31

Job’s Final Appeal

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.

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