Geneva Bible Study Notes :: Footnotes for Job 31

Job 31:1 I made a covenant with mine (a) eyes; why then should I think upon (b) a maid?

(a) I kept my eyes from all wanton looks.

(b) Would not God then have punished me?

Job 31:3 [Is] not destruction to the wicked? and a strange [punishment] to (c) the workers of iniquity?

(c) Job declares that the fear of God was a bridle to stay him from all wickedness.

Job 31:6 Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine (d) integrity.

(d) He shows what his uprightness stands in, in as much as he was blameless before men and did not sin against the second table.

Job 31:7 If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart (e) walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands;

(e) That is, has accomplished the lust of my eyes.

Job 31:8 [Then] let me sow, and let another (f) eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.

(f) According to the curse of the law, Deu 28:33.

Job 31:10 [Then] let my wife (g) grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.

(g) Let her be made a slave.

Job 31:12 For it [is] a fire [that] consumeth (h) to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.

(h) He shows that although man neglects the punishment of adultery, yet the wrath of God will never cease till such are destroyed.

Job 31:13 If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they (i) contended with me;

(i) When they thought themselves evil intreated by me.

Job 31:14 What then shall I do when (k) God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?

(k) If I had oppressed others, how would I have escaped God's judgment.

Job 31:15 Did not he that made me in the womb make (l) him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?

(l) He was moved to show pity to servants, because they were God's creatures as he was.

Job 31:16 If I have withheld the poor from [their] desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow (m) to fail;

(m) By long waiting for her request.

Job 31:18 (For from my youth he was brought up with me, (n) as [with] a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;)

(n) He nourished the fatherless, and maintained the widows cause.

Job 31:21 If I have lifted (o) up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:

(o) To oppress him and to do him harm.

Job 31:22 [Then] let mine (p) arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.

(p) Let me rot in pieces.

Job 31:23 For destruction [from] God [was] a (q) terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.

(q) I did not refrain from sin for fear of men, but because I feared God.

Job 31:26 If I beheld the (r) sun when it shined, or the moon walking [in] brightness;

(r) If I was proud of my worldly prosperity and happiness, which is meant by the shining of the sun, and brightness of the moon.

Job 31:27 And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my (s) hand:

(s) If my own doings delighted me.

Job 31:28 This also [were] an iniquity [to be punished by] the judge: for I should have denied the God [that is] (t) above.

(t) By putting confidence in anything but in him alone.

Job 31:31 If the men of my (u) tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied.

(u) My servants moved me to be avenged of my enemy, yet I never wished him harm.

Job 31:33 If I covered (x) my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:

(x) Not confessed it freely, by which it is evident that he justified himself before men, and not before God.

Job 31:34 Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families (y) terrify me, that I kept (z) silence, [and] went not out of the door?

(y) That is, I reverenced the most weak and contemned and was afraid to offend them.

(z) I suffered them to speak evil of me, and went not out of my house to avenge it.

Job 31:35 Oh that one would hear me! behold, my (a) desire [is, that] the Almighty would answer me, and [that] mine adversary had written a book.

(a) This is a sufficient token of my righteousness, that God is my witness and will justify my cause.

Job 31:36 Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, [and] bind it [as] a (b) crown to me.

(b) Should not this book of his accusations be a praise and commendation to me?

Job 31:37 I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a (c) prince would I go near unto him.

(c) I will make him account of all my life, without fear.

Job 31:38 If my land (d) cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain;

(d) As though I had withheld their wages that laboured in it.

Job 31:39 If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused (e) the owners thereof to lose their life:

(e) Meaning, that he was not a briber or extortioner.

Job 31:40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The (f) words of Job are ended.

(f) That is, the talk which he had with his three friends.