UNROLL
Evening at the far edge of the gray ash heap: a wrapped man stands small, seen from behind, beside the last furrow of a long plowed field, under a calm, deep, empty sky.

The Book of

Job 31

Job speaks: his last speech. He has told what he was and what he has become. Now he swears to his whole life, line by line, signs it, and waits for God to answer.

40 verses≈ 5 min1 personBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

  1. 1–3The testBlameless, stripped of everything, and his cry
  2. 4–14Round oneThe friends speak; Job answers
  3. 15–21Round twoMy Redeemer lives
  4. 22–31Round threeThen wisdom, and Job's last defenseChapter 31
  5. 32–37ElihuA younger voice
  6. 38–41The LORD speaksOut of the whirlwind
  7. 42The endJob prays and is restored

Job’s Final Appeal

Job

“I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze with desire at a virgin?

Job 31:1

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

Job
Job

For what is the allotment of God from above,

or the heritage from the Almighty on high?

Does not disaster come to the unjust

and calamity to the workers of iniquity?

Does He not see my ways

and count my every step?

Job
On a rough wooden market table in morning light, a small bronze balance with two pans, polished stone weights beside it, a clay measure of barley and a clay jar of oil.

Job’s oath

Truth and faithfulness

  1. Honesty

    No falsehood

    If I have walked in falsehood

    or my foot has rushed to deceit,

    let God weigh me with honest scales,

    that He may know my integrity.

  2. No straying heart

    If my steps have turned from the path,

    if my heart has followed my eyes,

    or if impurity has stuck to my hands,

    then may another eat what I have sown,

    and may my crops be uprooted.

  3. Marriage

    A neighbor’s wife

    If my heart has been enticed by my neighbor’s wife,

    or I have lurked at his door,

    then may my own wife grind grain for another,

    and may other men sleep with her.

  4. A fire to Abaddon

    For that would be a heinous crime,

    an iniquity to be judged.

    For it is a fire that burns down to Abaddon;

    it would root out my entire harvest.

Job

let God weigh me with honest scales, that He may know my integrity.

Job 31:6

Reflect

If I have…

Job’s oath reaches past his deeds to his heart and his eyes. Read through his list. Which line could you not sign? Write it down, and take it to God.

Job
Job

If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or maidservant

when they made a complaint against me,

what will I do when God rises to judge?

How will I answer when called to account?

Did not He who made me in the womb also make them?

Did not the same One form us in the womb?

Job
Job

if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless

because I saw that I had support in the gate,

then may my arm fall from my shoulder

and be torn from its socket.

For calamity from God terrifies me,

and His splendor I cannot overpower.

Job
The full moon rises huge and gold over a desert ridge at dusk, the last red of the sun on the other side of the sky, a lone black tent small in the lower third.

If I have put my trust in gold

or called pure gold my security,

if I have rejoiced in my great wealth

because my hand had gained so much,

if I have beheld the sun in its radiance

or the moon moving in splendor,

so that my heart was secretly enticed

and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth,

this would also be an iniquity to be judged,

for I would have denied God on high.

0:25

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Question

Quick question

Why would he hear them out?

Why does Job say he would not reject his servants’ cause?

Job
At dusk the door flap of a great black tent is tied open, a clay lamp lit, a mat and bowl laid out, as a servant leads in a dusty traveler with his staff, the road behind him.

Job’s oath

Enemies, strangers, secrets

  1. Heart

    An enemy’s ruin

    If I have rejoiced in my enemy’s ruin,

    or exulted when evil befell him—

    I have not allowed my mouth to sin

    by asking for his life with a curse—

  2. Hospitality

    The open door

    if the men of my house have not said,

    ‘Who is there who has not had his fill?’—

    but no stranger had to lodge on the street,

    for my door has been open to the traveler—

  3. Honesty

    Sin kept hidden

    if I have covered my transgressions like Adam

    by hiding my guilt in my heart,

    because I greatly feared the crowds

    and the contempt of the clans terrified me,

    so that I kept silent

    and would not go outside—

Job

my door has been open to the traveler

Job
Job

(Oh, that I had one to hear me!

Here is my signature.

Let the Almighty answer me;

let my accuser compose an indictment.

Job

Surely I would carry it on my shoulder

and wear it like a crown.

I would give account of all my steps;

I would approach Him like a prince.)—

Job
Job

if my land cries out against me

and its furrows weep together,

if I have devoured its produce without payment

or broken the spirit of its tenants,

then let briers grow instead of wheat and stinkweed instead of barley.”

Thus conclude the words of Job.

Job 31:40

Pray

Pray

Ask God for clean eyes, clean hands and an open door. Thank Him that He hears us and that nothing we do is hidden from Him. Bring to Him the thing you have been keeping covered. Ask for trust while you wait for Him to answer.

You’ve experienced

Job 31

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A verse to carry with you

I have made a covenant with my eyes.

Job 31:1

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