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Job 31:1–31:8, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Job 31:1–31:8
Job Swears an Oath about Desire, Deceit, and Integrity
The oath of clearance begins at the eyes
Job makes a covenant with his eyes. Why then should he think upon a maid? What portion would he have from God above, and what inheritance from the Almighty, if he were that man? Is not destruction to the wicked, and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity? Does God not see his ways and count all his steps?
He asks to be weighed in an even balance so God may know his integrity. If he has walked with vanity, if his foot has hasted to deceit, if his step has turned out of the way, if his heart has walked after his eyes, if any blot has cleaved to his hands, then let him sow and another eat, and let his offspring be rooted out.
The covenant governs Job's desire, not someone else's body
Integrity here is Job binding his own gaze and his own walk. The unit is not a tool for blaming a woman for being seen, and it is not a reduction of righteousness to private sexuality alone. Deceit, vanity, and a blot on the hands sit beside the eyes.
The even balance is what he has wanted since the lawsuit began: evidence, not insinuation. He is willing to lose crops if the scale goes against him. That willingness is the opposite of Eliphaz's invented catalogue.
How this should shape us
Govern your own looking and your own dealing. Do not turn Job's covenant into suspicion of other people's bodies, and do not pretend that sexual self-control could replace honest hands.
Teach it back
Explain Job 31:1–31:8 in your own words. Name the speaker, the unit's place in Job, one source-controlled textual or literary observation, one uncertainty, and one harmful use the passage does not authorize.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do responsible readings differ?
Best judgment: The covenant language concerns Job's discipline and cannot be used to blame those subjected to unwanted attention or to reduce integrity to private sexuality.
How certain? strongResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Job 31:1–31:8, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Job.xml, OSIS 31:1–31:8
Supports: Verse-level controls for Job's difficult Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, textual issues, speech boundaries, and alternatives in Job 31:1–31:8.
Official NET Job PDF, exact translator, study, and textual notes attached to Job 31:1–31:8
Supports: Book-level and passage-level literary, historical, theological, and pastoral synthesis with speaker distinctions and visible uncertainty.
Enter the Bible Job course, Outline and Theological Themes: wisdom poem and Job's final defense; applied to Job 31:1–31:8
Supports: Polyphony, retribution critique, justice, Job's response, divine verdict, and the book's interpretive openness.
Ausloos, 'A Matter of Justice,' OTE 36.1 (2023), pp. 151-165, poetic dialogue, protest, retribution, and polyphony; applied to Job 31:1–31:8
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
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 31:1–31:8, 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 31:1–31:8
Open the fixed Hebrew Job file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Job
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006; current official PDF
Supports: Verse-level controls for Job's difficult Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, textual issues, speech boundaries, and alternatives in Job 31:1–31:8.
Exact location: Official NET Job PDF, exact translator, study, and textual notes attached to Job 31:1–31:8
Open the official NET Job PDF ↗modern scholarly book course
Job course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, theological themes, and Bible in the world
Daniel J. Simundson and Kathryn Schifferdecker
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, current online edition inspected 2026
Supports: Book-level and passage-level literary, historical, theological, and pastoral synthesis with speaker distinctions and visible uncertainty.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Job course, Outline and Theological Themes: wisdom poem and Job's final defense; applied to Job 31:1–31:8
Open the Enter the Bible Job course ↗peer reviewed open access literary and theological article
A Matter of Justice: The Openness of the Book of Job
Hans Ausloos
Old Testament Essays 36.1, 2023
Supports: Polyphony, retribution critique, justice, Job's response, divine verdict, and the book's interpretive openness.
Exact location: Ausloos, 'A Matter of Justice,' OTE 36.1 (2023), pp. 151-165, poetic dialogue, protest, retribution, and polyphony; applied to Job 31:1–31:8
Open Ausloos on Job and justice ↗