Verse Lens · Context pointer
Job 31:12 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 12. 12For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
Job 31:12 advances the thought unit with the words “For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.” Job supplies a reason through “For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase” in support of Job Denies Adultery and Grounds Servant Justice in One Creator.
Read It With
- Job 31:9–31:15
Read Job 31:12 with 31:9–31:15. Read alone, “For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase” could lose its speaker, the question or claim it develops, and the unit's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Job invokes judgment if his heart was enticed toward a neighbor's wife, then says he could not answer God if he rejected a male or female servant's case because one Creator formed them all.
Why It Needs Context
Job 31:12 depends on 31:9–31:15; isolating “For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase” would detach a poetic premise, image, response, or transition from Job and “Job Denies Adultery and Grounds Servant Justice in One Creator.”
Read Job 31:9–15 together
Why these verses belong together: Job 31:9–31:15 follows the pinned KJV paragraphing and holds together one sustained speech movement: “Job Denies Adultery and Grounds Servant Justice in One Creator.” The next unit begins with a new stanza, question sequence, scene, speaker response, or rhetorical turn.
Verse 9. 9 If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour’s door;
Verse 10. 10 Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.
Verse 11. 11 For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.
Verse 12. 12 For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.
Verse 13. 13 If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me;
Verse 14. 14 What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?
Verse 15. 15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Job 31:9–31:15 — Job Denies Adultery and Grounds Servant Justice in One CreatorSources 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 31:9–31:15, 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 31:9–31:15
Open the fixed Hebrew Job file ↗