Verse Lens · Context pointer
Job 31:3 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 3. 3Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
Job 31:3 advances the thought unit with the words “Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?.” Job presses the unit's question through “Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?”, a line that belongs to Job Swears an Oath about Desire, Deceit, and Integrity.
Read It With
- Job 31:1–31:8
Read Job 31:3 with 31:1–31:8. Read alone, “Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?” could lose its speaker, the question or claim it develops, and the unit's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Job begins his oath of clearance with a covenant governing his gaze and asks to be weighed on honest scales, accepting loss if he has walked falsely.
Why It Needs Context
Job 31:3 depends on 31:1–31:8; isolating “Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?” would detach a poetic premise, image, response, or transition from Job and “Job Swears an Oath about Desire, Deceit, and Integrity.”
Read Job 31:1–8 together
Why these verses belong together: Job 31:1–31:8 follows the pinned KJV paragraphing and holds together one sustained speech movement: “Job Swears an Oath about Desire, Deceit, and Integrity.” The next unit begins with a new stanza, question sequence, scene, speaker response, or rhetorical turn.
Verse 1. 1 I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?
Verse 2. 2 For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?
Verse 3. 3 Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?
Verse 4. 4 Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?
Verse 5. 5 If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit;
Verse 6. 6 Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity.
Verse 7. 7 If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands;
Verse 8. 8 Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Job 31:1–31:8 — Job Swears an Oath about Desire, Deceit, and IntegritySources 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 31:1–31:8, 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 ↗