31:1 I made a covenant with mine a eyes; why then should I
think upon b a maid?
(a) I kept my eyes from all wanton looks.
(b) Would not God then have punished me?
31:3 [Is] not destruction to the wicked? and a strange
[punishment] to c the workers of iniquity?
(c) Job declares that the fear of God was a bridle to stay
him from all wickedness.
31:6 Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know
mine d integrity.
(d) He shows what his uprightness stands in, in as much as
he was blameless before men and did not sin against the
second table.
31:7 If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart e
walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to
mine hands;
(e) That is, has accomplished the lust of my eyes.
31:8 [Then] let me sow, and let another f eat; yea, let my
offspring be rooted out.
(f) According to the curse of the law, (De 28:33).
31:10 [Then] let my wife g grind unto another, and let others
bow down upon her.
(g) Let her be made a slave.
31:12 For it [is] a fire [that] consumeth h to destruction,
and would root out all mine increase.
(h) He shows that although man neglects the punishment of
adultery, yet the wrath of God will never cease till
such are destroyed.
31:13 If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my
maidservant, when they i contended with me;
(i) When they thought themselves evil intreated by me.
31:14 What then shall I do when k God riseth up? and when he
visiteth, what shall I answer him?
(k) If I had oppressed others, how would I have escaped
God's judgment.
31:15 Did not he that made me in the womb make l him? and did
not one fashion us in the womb?
(l) He was moved to show pity to servants, because they
were God's creatures as he was.
31:16 If I have withheld the poor from [their] desire, or have
caused the eyes of the widow m to fail;
(m) By long waiting for her request.
31:18 (For from my youth he was brought up with me, n as
[with] a father, and I have guided her from my mother's
womb;)
(n) He nourished the fatherless, and maintained the widows
cause.
31:21 If I have lifted o up my hand against the fatherless,
when I saw my help in the gate:
(o) To oppress him and to do him harm.
31:22 [Then] let mine p arm fall from my shoulder blade, and
mine arm be broken from the bone.
(p) Let me rot in pieces.
31:23 For destruction [from] God [was] a q terror to me, and
by reason of his highness I could not endure.
(q) I did not refrain from sin for fear of men, but
because I feared God.
31:26 If I beheld the r sun when it shined, or the moon
walking [in] brightness;
(r) If I was proud of my worldly prosperity and happiness,
which is meant by the shining of the sun, and
brightness of the moon.
31:27 And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath
kissed my s hand:
(s) If my own doings delighted me.
31:28 This also [were] an iniquity [to be punished by] the
judge: for I should have denied the God [that is] t
above.
(t) By putting confidence in anything but in him alone.
31:31 If the men of my u tabernacle said not, Oh that we had
of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied.
(u) My servants moved me to be avenged of my enemy, yet I
never wished him harm.
31:33 If I covered x my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine
iniquity in my bosom:
(x) Not confessed it freely, by which it is evident that
he justified himself before men, and not before God.
31:34 Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of
families y terrify me, that I kept z silence, [and]
went not out of the door?
(y) That is, I reverenced the most weak and contemned and
was afraid to offend them.
(z) I suffered them to speak evil of me, and went not out
of my house to avenge it.
31:35 Oh that one would hear me! behold, my a desire [is,
that] the Almighty would answer me, and [that] mine
adversary had written a book.
(a) This is a sufficient token of my righteousness, that
God is my witness and will justify my cause.
31:36 Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, [and] bind it
[as] a b crown to me.
(b) Should not this book of his accusations be a praise
and commendation to me?
31:37 I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a c
prince would I go near unto him.
(c) I will make him account of all my life, without fear.
31:38 If my land d cry against me, or that the furrows
likewise thereof complain;
(d) As though I had withheld their wages that laboured in
it.
31:39 If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have
caused e the owners thereof to lose their life:
(e) Meaning, that he was not a briber or extortioner.
31:40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of
barley. The f words of Job are ended.
(f) That is, the talk which he had with his three friends.
