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Job’s Final Appeal
In Job 31, Job makes a final appeal about his conduct. He denies specific wrongs, accepts fitting penalties if he were guilty, and calls on the Almighty to answer him.
Understanding the passage
Listening in context
This chapter is wisdom and dialogue spoken by Job in the first person. Its repeated “if” statements form a solemn self-examination. Job argues that God sees his ways, and that integrity must be shown in desires, actions, treatment of others, hidden attitudes, and public accountability.
Job 31:1–40Main takeaway
Job 31 presents integrity as a whole-life matter tested by desire, conduct, values, treatment of others, and openness before God.
Look closely at the words
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01Job begins with watchfulness before GodJob starts with a “covenant” with his eyes, a deliberate commitment about what he will look at.
Explanation
Job starts with a “covenant” with his eyes, a deliberate commitment about what he will look at. He says calamity belongs to wrongdoing, and he knows God sees his ways and counts his steps. So Job invites honest weighing in an “even balance”, asking that God know his integrity.
02He names deceit and sexual sin as serious wrongsJob denies falsehood, deceit, and defilement, even accepting loss of his field if he were guilty.
Explanation
Job denies falsehood, deceit, and defilement, even accepting loss of his field if he were guilty. He also says being enticed to a woman and lying in wait at a neighbour’s door would be a heinous crime, punishable by judges and destructive like fire that consumes.
03He insists on justice and care for vulnerable peopleJob says he has not despised the cause of male or female servants. He asks what answer he could give when God rises up, and points to the same Maker forming both master and servant in the womb.
Explanation
Job says he has not despised the cause of male or female servants. He asks what answer he could give when God rises up, and points to the same Maker forming both master and servant in the womb. He also denies withholding food, clothing, or fair treatment from the poor, widow, fatherless, and needy.
04He rejects false trust, revenge, and closed doorsJob says he has not made gold his hope or wealth his confidence. He denies secret enticement toward the sun and moon, calling that a denial of God above.
Explanation
Job says he has not made gold his hope or wealth his confidence. He denies secret enticement toward the sun and moon, calling that a denial of God above. He has not rejoiced at an enemy’s ruin, and the men of his tent speak of his generosity while the traveller finds his door open.
05He asks for a clear hearing and ends with a final oathJob denies hiding sin because of public shame. He asks to be heard, gives his signature, and wants the accusation written plainly.
Explanation
Job denies hiding sin because of public shame. He asks to be heard, gives his signature, and wants the accusation written plainly. He says he would carry it openly and declare his steps before God. He finishes with one last oath about unjust gain from the land and its produce.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01Why does Job connect his eyes, his ways, and his steps at the start?
02What reasons does Job give for treating servants and vulnerable people justly?
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Job 31:1–40
1“I made a covenant with my eyes; how then should I look lustfully at a young woman?
2For what is the portion from God above, and the heritage from the Almighty on high?
3Is it not calamity to the unrighteous, and disaster to the workers of iniquity?
4Doesn’t he see my ways, and count all my steps?
5“If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hurried to deceit
6(let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know my integrity);
7if my step has turned out of the way, if my heart walked after my eyes, if any defilement has stuck to my hands,
8then let me sow, and let another eat. Yes, let the produce of my field be rooted out.
9“If my heart has been enticed to a woman, and I have laid wait at my neighbor’s door,
10then let my wife grind for another, and let others sleep with her.
11For that would be a heinous crime. Yes, it would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges,
12for it is a fire that consumes to destruction, and would root out all my increase.
13“If I have despised the cause of my male servant or of my female servant, when they contended with me,
14what then will I do when God rises up? When he visits, what will I answer him?
15Didn’t he who made me in the womb make him? Didn’t one fashion us in the womb?
16“If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
17or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it
18(no, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, I have guided her from my mother’s womb);
19if I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or that the needy had no covering;
20if his heart hasn’t blessed me, if he hasn’t been warmed with my sheep’s fleece;
21if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate;
22then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder blade, and my arm be broken from the bone.
23For calamity from God is a terror to me. Because of his majesty, I can do nothing.
24“If I have made gold my hope, and have said to the fine gold, ‘You are my confidence;’
25If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much;
26if I have seen the sun when it shined, or the moon moving in splendor,
27and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth;
28this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have denied the God who is above.
29“If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him
30(I have certainly not allowed my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse);
31if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who can find one who has not been filled with his meat?’
32(the foreigner has not camped in the street, but I have opened my doors to the traveler);
33if like Adam I have covered my transgressions, by hiding my iniquity in my heart,
34because I feared the great multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and didn’t go out of the door—
35oh that I had one to hear me! Behold, here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me! Let the accuser write my indictment!
36Surely I would carry it on my shoulder, and I would bind it to me as a crown.
37I would declare to him the number of my steps. I would go near to him like a prince.
38If my land cries out against me, and its furrows weep together;
39if I have eaten its fruits without money, or have caused its owners to lose their life,
40let briers grow instead of wheat, and stinkweed instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.