Verse Lens · Context pointer

Job 21:31 Explained in Context

Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.

Selected verse

Verse 31. Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?

King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions

Role in This Section

Job 21:31 advances the thought unit with the words “Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?.” Job presses the unit's question through “Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?”, a line that belongs to Job Exposes the Friends' Biased Evidence.

Read It With

  • Job 21:27–21:34

Read Job 21:31 with 21:27–21:34. Read alone, “Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?” could lose its speaker, the question or claim it develops, and the unit's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Job says he knows their devices, points to travelers who observe delayed judgment and honored burials, and calls their comfort false.

Why It Needs Context

Job 21:31 depends on 21:27–21:34; isolating “Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?” would detach a poetic premise, image, response, or transition from Job and “Job Exposes the Friends' Biased Evidence.”

Read Job 21:27–34 together

Why these verses belong together: Job 21:27–21:34 follows the pinned KJV paragraphing and holds together one sustained speech movement: “Job Exposes the Friends' Biased Evidence.” The next unit begins with a new stanza, question sequence, scene, speaker response, or rhetorical turn.

Verse 27. Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me.

Verse 28. For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked?

Verse 29. Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens,

Verse 30. That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.

Verse 31. Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?

Verse 32. Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb.

Verse 33. The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him.

Verse 34. How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood?

Continue in Context

The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.

Read Job 21:27–21:34 — Job Exposes the Friends' Biased Evidence
Sources used for this context pointer

How certain is this explanation? strong

These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.

Biblical text

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society

USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.

Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.

Exact location: Job 21:27–21:34, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus

Open source ↗

hebrew text and morphology

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Job

Open Scriptures

Open Scriptures, release 2.2

Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.

Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Job.xml, OSIS 21:27–21:34

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