Jump to a verse
Job 31:24–31:32, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Job 31:24–31:32
Job Denies Trust in Wealth, Idolatry, Revenge, and Inhospitality
Gold, sun, and moon are refused as trust and as worship
If Job has made gold his hope, or said to fine gold, You are my confidence; if he rejoiced because his wealth was great and his hand had gotten much; if he beheld the sun when it shined or the moon walking in brightness, and his heart was secretly enticed, or his mouth kissed his hand: that too would be an iniquity to be punished by the judge, for he would have denied the God who is above.
Wealth-trust and sky-worship are paired. Either can replace the God Job still will not curse.
Hospitality and the enemy's fall close this movement
If he rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated him, or lifted himself up when evil found him—he did not let his mouth sin by asking a curse on the enemy's soul—if the men of his tent did not say, Oh that we had of his flesh; he did not keep his food from them—the stranger did not lodge in the street; he opened his doors to the traveler.
The oath ties devotion to economics, to the mouth that will not curse an enemy, and to a door that opens at night. Job is not presenting a theory of perfection for all people everywhere. He is answering specific slanders with a public, testable life.
How this should shape us
Do not let a rising account, a beautiful sky, or an enemy's crash become the thing you trust. Keep a door that can take a stranger, and do not call yourself devout while you feast on someone's ruin.
Teach it back
Explain Job 31:24–31:32 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.
Your explanation stays in this browser. It is not sent or saved.
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.
Research 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 31:24–31:32, 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 31:24–31:32
Supports: Verse-level controls for Job's difficult Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, textual issues, speech boundaries, and alternatives in Job 31:24–31:32.
Official NET Job PDF, exact translator, study, and textual notes attached to Job 31:24–31:32
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 31:24–31:32
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 31:24–31:32
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 31:24–31:32, 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 31:24–31:32
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 31:24–31:32.
Exact location: Official NET Job PDF, exact translator, study, and textual notes attached to Job 31:24–31:32
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 31:24–31:32
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 31:24–31:32
Open Ausloos on Job and justice ↗