Back to Job 31

Job 31:5-17

“If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hurried to deceit

(let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know my integrity);

if my step has turned out of the way, if my heart walked after my eyes, if any defilement has stuck to my hands,

then let me sow, and let another eat. Yes, let the produce of my field be rooted out.

“If my heart has been enticed to a woman, and I have laid wait at my neighbor’s door,

then let my wife grind for another, and let others sleep with her.

For that would be a heinous crime. Yes, it would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges;

for it is a fire that consumes to destruction, and would root out all my increase.

“If I have despised the cause of my male servant or of my female servant, when they contended with me,

what then will I do when God rises up? When he visits, what will I answer him?

Didn’t he who made me in the womb make him? Didn’t one fashion us in the womb?

“If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it

World English Bible · Public Domain

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Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    “If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hurried to deceit

    (let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know my integrity);

    if my step has turned out of the way, if my heart walked after my eyes, if any defilement has stuck to my hands,

    then let me sow, and let another eat. Yes, let the produce of my field be rooted out.

    “If my heart has been enticed to a woman, and I have laid wait at my neighbor’s door,

    then let my wife grind for another, and let others sleep with her.

    For that would be a heinous crime. Yes, it would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges;

    for it is a fire that consumes to destruction, and would root out all my increase.

    “If I have despised the cause of my male servant or of my female servant, when they contended with me,

    what then will I do when God rises up? When he visits, what will I answer him?

    Didn’t he who made me in the womb make him? Didn’t one fashion us in the womb?

    “If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

    or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it

  • KJV King James Version

    If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit;

    Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity.

    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;

    Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.

    If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour’s door;

    Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.

    For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.

    For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.

    If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me;

    What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?

    Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?

    If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;

    Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;

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  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    If I have walked with vanity, and my foot hath hasted to deceit —

    Let me be weighed in a just balance, that God may know mine integrity —

    If my step hath turned out of the way, and my heart walked after mine eyes, and if any spot hath cleaved to my hands;

    Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let the produce of my field be rooted out.

    If my heart have been enticed unto a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbour's door;

    Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.

    For that were a heinous crime; yea, it were an iniquity to be punished by the judges.

    For it is a fire that consumeth unto destruction, and would root out all mine increase.

    If I did despise the cause of my man-servant, or of my maid-servant, when they contended with me —

    What then shall I do when God riseth up? And when He remembereth, what shall I answer Him?

    Did not He that made me in the womb make him? And did not One fashion us in the womb?

    If I have withheld aught that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;

    Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof —

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Cross-references (144)

  • Leviticus 20:10 (v11) “ ‘The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, even he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the…
  • Psalms 7:8-9 (v6) Yahweh administers judgment to the peoples. Judge me, Yahweh, according to my righteousness, and to my integrity that is in me. Oh let the…
  • Daniel 5:27 (v6) TEKEL: you are weighed in the balances, and are found wanting.
  • James 2:13 (v14) For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
  • Leviticus 26:16 (v8) I also will do this to you: I will appoint terror over you, even consumption and fever, that shall consume the eyes, and make the soul to…
Show all 100 cross-references
  • Proverbs 14:31 (v15) He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for his Maker, but he who is kind to the needy honors him.
  • Micah 6:15 (v8) You will sow, but won’t reap. You will tread the olives, but won’t anoint yourself with oil; and crush grapes, but won’t drink the wine.
  • Numbers 15:39 (v7) It shall be to you for a fringe, that you may see it, and remember all Yahweh’s commandments, and do them; and that you don’t follow your…
  • 1 Samuel 2:3 (v6) “Don’t keep talking so exceedingly proudly. Don’t let arrogance come out of your mouth, for Yahweh is a God of knowledge. By him actions…
  • 1 Kings 11:4 (v9) When Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with Yahweh his God, as the heart of…
  • Job 34:19 (v15) He doesn’t respect the persons of princes, nor respect the rich more than the poor; for they all are the work of his hands.
  • Proverbs 6:27 (v12) Can a man scoop fire into his lap, and his clothes not be burned?
  • Proverbs 22:2 (v15) The rich and the poor have this in common: Yahweh is the maker of them all.
  • Isaiah 26:7 (v6) The way of the just is uprightness. You who are upright make the path of the righteous level.
  • Jeremiah 8:10 (v10) Therefore I will give their wives to others and their fields to those who will possess them. For everyone from the least even to the…
  • Malachi 2:10 (v15) Don’t we all have one father? Hasn’t one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, profaning the covenant…
  • Matthew 7:23 (v6) Then I will tell them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you who work iniquity.’
  • Deuteronomy 22:22-24 (v11) If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then they shall both die, the man who lay with the woman and the woman. So you…
  • Joshua 22:22 (v6) “The Mighty One, God, Yahweh, the Mighty One, God, Yahweh, he knows; and Israel shall know: if it was in rebellion, or if in trespass…
  • Judges 16:5 (v9) The lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him, and see in which his great strength lies, and by what means we…
  • 2 Samuel 12:11 (v10) “This is what Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes,…
  • Job 6:2 (v6) “Oh that my anguish were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances!
  • Job 10:8-12 (v15) “ ‘Your hands have framed me and fashioned me altogether, yet you destroy me. Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay. Will…
  • Job 27:5-6 (v6) Far be it from me that I should justify you. Until I die I will not put away my integrity from me. I hold fast to my righteousness, and…
  • Job 31:28 (v11) this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges; for I should have denied the God who is above.
  • Psalms 1:6 (v6) For Yahweh knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish.
  • Psalms 17:2-3 (v6) Let my sentence come out of your presence. Let your eyes look on equity. You have proved my heart. You have visited me in the night. You…
  • Psalms 139:23 (v6) Search me, God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts.
  • Proverbs 16:11 (v6) Honest balances and scales are Yahweh’s; all the weights in the bag are his work.
  • Ecclesiastes 7:26 (v9) I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and traps, whose hands are chains. Whoever pleases God shall escape from her;…
  • Ecclesiastes 11:9 (v7) Rejoice, young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart, and in the…
  • Isaiah 47:2 (v10) Take the millstones and grind flour. Remove your veil, lift up your skirt, uncover your legs, and wade through the rivers.
  • Micah 6:11 (v6) Shall I be pure with dishonest scales, and with a bag of deceitful weights?
  • Psalms 44:20-21 (vv5, 7) 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…
  • Genesis 38:24 (v11) About three months later, Judah was told, “Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has played the prostitute. Moreover, behold, she is with child by…
  • Exodus 11:5 (v10) and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the…
  • Deuteronomy 15:7-10 (v16) If a poor man, one of your brothers, is with you within any of your gates in your land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not…
  • Deuteronomy 28:30 (v10) You will betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her. You will build a house, and you won’t dwell in it. You will plant a vineyard,…
  • Deuteronomy 28:38 (v8) You will carry much seed out into the field, and will gather little in, for the locust will consume it.
  • Nehemiah 13:26 (v9) Didn’t Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations there was no king like him, and he was loved by his God, and God…
  • Job 24:15-16 (v9) The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No eye will see me.’ He disguises his face. In the dark they dig through…
  • Psalms 9:12 (v14) For he who avenges blood remembers them. He doesn’t forget the cry of the afflicted.
  • Psalms 9:19 (v14) Arise, Yahweh! Don’t let man prevail. Let the nations be judged in your sight.
  • Psalms 10:12-15 (v14) Arise, Yahweh! God, lift up your hand! Don’t forget the helpless. Why does the wicked person condemn God, and say in his heart, “God won’t…
  • Psalms 44:21 (v14) won’t God search this out? For he knows the secrets of the heart.
  • Proverbs 2:16-19 (v9) to deliver you from the strange woman, even from the foreigner who flatters with her words, who forsakes the friend of her youth, and…
  • Proverbs 6:25 (v9) Don’t lust after her beauty in your heart, neither let her captivate you with her eyelids.
  • Proverbs 12:11 (v5) He who tills his land shall have plenty of bread, but he who chases fantasies is void of understanding.
  • Proverbs 22:14 (v9) The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit. He who is under Yahweh’s wrath will fall into it.
  • Isaiah 38:14 (v16) I chattered like a swallow or a crane. I moaned like a dove. My eyes weaken looking upward. Lord, I am oppressed. Be my security.”
  • Jeremiah 5:7-9 (v12) “How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me, and sworn by what are no gods. When I had fed them to the full, they committed…
  • Jeremiah 5:8 (v9) They were as fed horses roaming at large. Everyone neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
  • Hosea 7:4 (v9) They are all adulterers. They are burning like an oven that the baker stops stirring, from the kneading of the dough, until it is leavened.
  • Zechariah 2:13 (v14) Be silent, all flesh, before Yahweh; for he has roused himself from his holy habitation!”
  • Matthew 5:29 (v7) If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your…
  • Romans 3:19 (v14) Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world…
  • 2 Timothy 2:19 (v6) However God’s firm foundation stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let every one who names the name of the…
  • Job 15:30 (vv8, 12) He will not depart out of darkness. The flame will dry up his branches. He will go away by the breath of God’s mouth.
  • Genesis 20:9 (v11) Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said to him, “What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and…
  • Genesis 26:10 (v11) Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought…
  • Exodus 20:14 (v11) “You shall not commit adultery.
  • Exodus 21:20-21 (v13) “If a man strikes his servant or his maid with a rod, and he dies under his hand, the man shall surely be punished. Notwithstanding, if his…
  • Exodus 21:26-27 (v13) “If a man strikes his servant’s eye, or his maid’s eye, and destroys it, he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake. If he strikes out his…
  • Leviticus 25:43 (v13) You shall not rule over him with harshness, but shall fear your God.
  • Leviticus 25:46 (v13) You may make them an inheritance for your children after you, to hold for a possession. Of them you may take your slaves forever, but over…
  • Deuteronomy 15:11 (v17) For the poor will never cease out of the land. Therefore I command you to surely open your hand to your brother, to your needy, and to your…
  • Deuteronomy 15:12-15 (v13) If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go…
  • Deuteronomy 15:14 (v17) You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your wine press. As Yahweh your God has blessed…
  • Deuteronomy 24:14-15 (v13) You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the foreigners who are in your…
  • Deuteronomy 28:30-33 (v8) You will betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her. You will build a house, and you won’t dwell in it. You will plant a vineyard,…
  • Deuteronomy 28:32 (v16) Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people. Your eyes will look, and fail with longing for them all day long. There will…
  • Deuteronomy 28:51 (v8) They will eat the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed. They also won’t leave you grain, new wine,…
  • Judges 6:3-6 (v8) So it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the children of the east came up against them. They encamped…
  • Nehemiah 5:5 (v15) Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children as their children. Behold, we bring our sons and our daughters into bondage…
  • Nehemiah 8:10 (v17) Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to him for whom nothing is prepared, for today is holy…
  • Job 5:4-5 (v8) His children are far from safety. They are crushed in the gate. Neither is there any to deliver them, whose harvest the hungry eats up, and…
  • Job 5:16 (v16) So the poor has hope, and injustice shuts her mouth.
  • Job 9:32 (v14) For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, that we should come together in judgment.
  • Job 10:2 (v14) I will tell God, ‘Do not condemn me. Show me why you contend with me.
  • Job 10:3 (v15) Is it good to you that you should oppress, that you should despise the work of your hands, and smile on the counsel of the wicked?
  • Job 18:19 (v8) He will have neither son nor grandson among his people, nor any remaining where he lived.
  • Job 20:18 (v8) He will restore that for which he labored, and will not swallow it down. He will not rejoice according to the substance that he has gotten.
  • Job 20:19 (v16) For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor. He has violently taken away a house, and he will not build it up.
  • Job 20:28 (v12) The increase of his house will depart. They will rush away in the day of his wrath.
  • Job 22:7 (v17) You haven’t given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
  • Job 22:7-9 (v16) You haven’t given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry. But as for the mighty man, he had the earth.…
  • Job 23:11 (v7) My foot has held fast to his steps. I have kept his way, and not turned away.
  • Job 24:6 (v8) They cut their food in the field. They glean the vineyard of the wicked.
  • Job 26:6 (v12) Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.
  • Job 29:12-16 (v17) Because I delivered the poor who cried, and the fatherless also, who had no one to help him, the blessing of him who was ready to perish…
  • Psalms 4:2 (v5) 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 (v5) 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…
  • Psalms 7:6 (v14) Arise, Yahweh, in your anger. Lift up yourself against the rage of my adversaries. Awake for me. You have commanded judgment.
  • Psalms 12:2 (v5) Everyone lies to his neighbor. They speak with flattering lips, and with a double heart.
  • Psalms 26:1 (v6) Judge me, Yahweh, for I have walked in my integrity. I have trusted also in Yahweh without wavering.
  • Psalms 69:3 (v16) I am weary with my crying. My throat is dry. My eyes fail looking for my God.
  • Psalms 76:9 (v14) when God arose to judgment, to save all the afflicted ones of the earth.
  • Psalms 101:3 (v7) I will set no vile thing before my eyes. I hate the deeds of faithless men. They will not cling to me.
  • Psalms 109:13 (v8) Let his posterity be cut off. In the generation following let their name be blotted out.
  • Psalms 112:9 (v16) He has dispersed, he has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. His horn will be exalted with honor.

100 distinct cross-references across this passage (144 total citations).

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

Explain this passage (18 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 He showeth wherein his uprightness standeth, that is, inasmuch…

He showeth wherein his uprightness standeth, that is, inasmuch as he was blameless before men, and sinned not against the second Table.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.

John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv5–17 Job 31:5 If I have walked with vanity, or…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv5–17 Walked, i.e. conversed in the world, dealt with men.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv9, 16 Two more instances we have here of Job's integrity:…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv5–17 Let me be weighed in an even balance,.... Or…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 16 Walked - Dealt with men. Vanity - With lying,…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17 Verse 5. If I have walked with vanity] If…
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 16 Job 31:5-6. If I have walked with vanity —…
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv5–17 If I have walked with vanity - This is…
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17 Vanity, or hypocrisy, (Calmet) so as to overreach others.…
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv5–17 Job's abstinence from evil deeds.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv5–15 b. Job’s first protestation is, that he has not…
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16 5. “Falsehood” or vanity, which is not merely in…
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv7, 10, 13, 15 (7) If my step hath turned out of the…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17 If I have walked with vanity, or if my…
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv14–15 What then shall I do when God riseth up?
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 16 General Information:
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv5, 9, 11, 12, 13 31:5-8 If Job had lied to anyone as part…
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