“If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hurried to deceit
Parallel Translations
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“If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hurried to deceit
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If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit;
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If I have walked with vanity, and my foot hath hasted to deceit —
Cross-references (8)
Passages linked to Job 31:5 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 44:20-21 If we have forgotten the name of our God, or spread out our hands to a strange god, won’t God search this out? For he knows the secrets of the heart.
- Proverbs 12:11 He who tills his land shall have plenty of bread, but he who chases fantasies is void of understanding.
- Psalms 4:2 You sons of men, how long shall my glory be turned into dishonor? Will you love vanity and seek after falsehood?
- Psalms 7:3-5 Yahweh, my God, if I have done this, if there is iniquity in my hands, if I have rewarded evil to him who was at peace with me (yes, I have delivered him who without cause was my adversary), let the enemy pursue my soul, and overtake it; yes, let him tread my life down to the earth, and lay my glory in the dust.
- Psalms 12:2 Everyone lies to his neighbor. They speak with flattering lips, and with a double heart.
- Jeremiah 2:5 Yahweh says, “What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after worthless vanity, and have become worthless?
- Ezekiel 13:8 “ ‘Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “Because you have spoken falsehood and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you,” says the Lord Yahweh.
- Micah 2:11 If a man walking in a spirit of falsehood lies: “I will prophesy to you of wine and of strong drink;” he would be the prophet of this people.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Job 31:5 If I have walked with vanity, or…
Job 31:5 If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit;
Ver. 5. If I have walked with vanity] As they do who disquiet themselves in vain, in heaping up riches by evil arts, by deceits and covin in bargaining; by getting other men’s means fraudulently, &c. "The getting of treasures by a lying tongue" (or any the like indirect course) "is a vanity tossed to and fro for them who seek death," Pro 21:6. Eventually such do seek death, though not intentionally; they spin a fair thread to strangle themselves, both temporally and eternally. Such vain and vile ways, therefore, Job carefully declined; for he knew them to be both base and bootless, Furtum a Virg. vocatur inane (Aeneid 6). Ephraim fed upon the wind, the balances of deceit were in his hand; if, thereby, he filled his purse with coin, yet he had emptiness in his soul; Lucrum in arca, damnum in conscientia: filled he was with air, and that air was pestilential too; his breath and death he drew in together. Job would have none of that.
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Or if my foot hath hasted to deceit] If I have been nimble and active to go beyond and defraud another in any matter, 1Th 4:6, which, what is it else but crimea stellionatus, the very sin of deception? and this not only acted, but arted, after long trading in it, as the words of walking and hasting seem to import.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Walked, i.e. conversed in the world, dealt with men.
Walked, i.e. conversed in the world, dealt with men.
With vanity, i.e. with lying, or falsehood, or hypocrisy, as this word is oft used, as Psa 4:2; 12:3; 36:3; Pro 30:8, and as the next words explain it.
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If my foot hath hasted to deceit; if when I have had any temptation or opportunity of enriching myself, by defrauding or wronging others, I have readily and greedily complied with it, as hypocrites (such as you account me) use to do, and have not rejected and abhorred it; for more is here understood than is expressed. The sense is imperfect, and supposeth an imprecation, which is either understood, after the manner of the Hebrews, or expressed in the next verse.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Let me be weighed in an even balance,.... Or…
Let me be weighed in an even balance,.... Or "in balances of righteousness" (z), even in the balance or strict justice, the justice of God; he was so conscious to himself that he had done no injustice to any man in his dealings with them, that, if weight of righteousness, which was to be, and was the rule of his conduct between man and man, was put into one scale, and his actions into another, the balance would be even, there would be nothing wanting, or, however, that would require any severe censure:
that God may know mine integrity; God did knew his integrity, and bore a testimony to it, and to his retaining it, Job 2:3; but his meaning is, that should God strictly inquire into his life and conduct with respect to his dealings with men, as it would appear that he had lived in all good conscience to that day, so he doubted not but he would find his integrity such, that he would own and acknowledge it, approve of it, and commend it, and make it known to his friends and others, whereby he would be cleared of all those calumnies that were cast upon him. Some connect these words with the following, reading them affirmatively, "God knows mine integrity"; he knows that my step has not turned out of the way of truth and righteousness; that my heart has not walked after mine eye, in lustful thoughts and desires; and that there is no spoil, nor rapine, nor violence in my hand, that I should deserve such a punishment as to sow, and another eat: thus Sephorno.
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(z) "in bilancibus justitiae", Montanus, Mercerus, Drusius, so Junius & Tremellius, Cocceius, Michaelis, Schultens.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Walked - Dealt with men. Vanity - With lying,…
Walked - Dealt with men. Vanity - With lying, or falsehood. Deceit - If when I had an opportunity of enriching myself, by wronging others, I have readily and greedily complied with It.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 5. If I have walked with vanity] If…
Verse 5. If I have walked with vanity] If I have been guilty of idolatry, or the worshipping of a false god: for thus שאו shau, which we here translate vanity, is used Jer 18:15; (compare with Ps 31:6; Ho 12:11; and Jon 2:9,) and it seems evident that the whole of Job's discourse here is a vindication of himself from all idolatrous dispositions and practices.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Job 31:5-6. If I have walked with vanity —…
Job 31:5-6. If I have walked with vanity — Conversed in the world, or dealt with men, with lying, falsehood, or hypocrisy, as the word vanity is often used; or if my foot hath hasted to deceit — If, when I had an opportunity of enriching myself by wronging others, I have readily and greedily complied with it. Let me be weighed, &c. — I desire nothing more than to have my heart and life weighed in just balances, and searched out by the all-seeing God. That God may know — Or, and he will know (upon search he will find out: which is spoken of God after the manner of men) mine integrity — So this is an appeal to God to be witness of his sincerity.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain If I have walked with vanity - This is…
If I have walked with vanity - This is the second specification in regard to his private deportment. He says that his life had been sincere, upright, honest. The word vanity here is equivalent to falsehood, for so the parallelism demands, and so the word (שׁוא shâv') is often used; Psa 12:3; Psa 41:7; Exo 23:1; Deu 5:20; compare Isa, Deu 1:13. The meaning of Job here is, that he had been true and honest. In his dealings with others he had not defrauded them; he had not misrepresented things; he had spoken the exact truth, and had done that which was without deception or guile.
If my foot hath hasted to deceit - That is, if I have gone to execute a purpose of deceit or fraud. He had never, on seeing an opportunity where others might be defrauded, hastened to embrace it. The Septuagint renders this verse, “If I have walked with scoffers - μετα γελοιαστῶν meta geloiastōn - and if my foot has hastened to deceit.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Vanity, or hypocrisy, (Calmet) so as to overreach others.…
Vanity, or hypocrisy, (Calmet) so as to overreach others. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Job's abstinence from evil deeds.
Job's abstinence from evil deeds.
vanity--that is, falsehood (Psa 12:2).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain b. Job’s first protestation is, that he has not…
b. Job’s first protestation is, that he has not practiced deceit, nor acted on dishonest principles, nor departed from the way of chastity, (as indicated in Job_31:1,) a specification which prepares the way for the next protestation, Job_31:5-8.
5. If — The usual form of oaths. See note on Job_27:2; Job_27:4-5. He means to attest his innocence under the most solemn sanctions.
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Vanity — The prime meaning of the Hebrew is, falsity. A sad companionship is that of a false, hollow, hypocritical nature; such every corrupt man must “walk with.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 5. “Falsehood” or vanity, which is not merely in…
5. “Falsehood” or vanity, which is not merely in word but in thought, and “deceit” are here treated as persons; with the one Job denies that he has “walked,” i. e. accompanied it, and the other he denies that he “hasted after,” i. e. followed it. He has made no companion of falsity nor followed after deceit, to do aught that they would seduce him to. From the imprecation in Job_31:8, Let me sow and another eat! it is probable that what Job clears himself of is all false dealing prompted by cupidity.
5–8. These verses continue to amplify the thought that Job refused to give way to any evil desire. The protestation lies in Job_31:5 and Job_31:7, the curse imprecated on himself in Job_31:8, while Job_31:6 is parenthetical, thrown in to confirm the denial implicitly contained in Job_31:5.
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5. If I have walked with falsehood,
And my foot hath hasted after deceit
6. (Let him weigh me in an even balance,
And let God know mine integrity),
7. If my step hath turned out of the way, &c.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain If I have walked with vanity, or if my…
If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit. "If I have been a living lie, i.e. if, under a fair show of piety and righteousness of life, I have, as you my friends suppose, been all along a deceiver and a hypocrite, cloaking my secret sins under a mere pretence of well-doing, then the sooner I am exposed the better. Let me be weighed," etc. The painful suggestion of hypocrisy has been made by Job"s friends repeatedly during the colloquy, (Job_4:7-9 Job_8:6, 12 11:4-6, 11-14 15:30-35 18:5-21 20:5-29, etc.) and has deeply afflicted the patriarch. It is a charge so easily made, and so impossible to refute. All that the righteous man, thus falsely accused, can do is to appeal to God: "Thou, God, knowest. Thou, God, wilt one day show forth the truth."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Job continues speaking.
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If I have
In Job 31:5-40 Job describes different situations in which he would deserve God's punishment. But, he knows that they are not true and he is innocent. (See: Hypothetical Situations)
walked with falsehood, if my foot has hurried to deceit
Here "walked" and "hurried" are metaphors that represent how Job lived. AT: "done anything false or purposely deceived anyone" (See: Metaphor)
let me be weighed in an even balance
People used balances to weigh items and to determine their value. This image represents judging honestly. It can be stated in active form. AT: "let me be judged honestly" or "let God judge me honestly" (See: Metaphor and Active or Passive)
translationWords
walk
deceive
integrity
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 31:5-8 If Job had lied to anyone as part…
31:5-8 If Job had lied to anyone as part of a business deal, it would violate the eighth commandment (Deut 5:19); if it occurred in court, it would violate the ninth (Deut 5:20). This sin would merit fiery judgment (Rev 21:8). • If Job lusted for what his eyes had seen, he would violate the tenth commandment (Deut 5:21). • then let someone else eat: This was a self-curse.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.