Job 31

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 31:34

Did I fear a great multitude ?.... No, they did not deter him from confessing his sin in the most public manner, when sensible or convicted of it, and when such a public acknowledgment was necessary: or did the contempt of families terrify me ? no, the contempt he might suppose he should be had in by some families that knew him, and he was well acquainted with, did not terrify him from making a free and ingenuous confession of his sins: that I kept silence ; or "did I keep silence", ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 31:35

Oh, that one would hear me !.... Or, "who will give me a hearer?" F12 מי יתן לי שמע לי "quis dabit mihi audientem me?" Montanus; "utinam sit mihi auditor", Tigurine version. Oh, that I had one! not a nearer of him as a teacher and instructor of many, as he had been, Job 4:3 ; or only to hear what he had delivered in this chapter; but to hear his cause, and hear him plead his own cause in a judiciary way; he does not mean an ordinary hearer, one that, comes out of curiosity... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 31:36

Surely I would take it upon my shoulder ,.... The bill of indictment, the charge in writing; this he would take up and carry on his shoulder as a very light thing, having nothing weighty in it, no charge of sin and guilt to bear him down; nothing but what he could easily stand up under, only some trifling matter, which could not be interpreted sin; for anything of that kind would have been a burden too heavy for him to have borne: or else his sense is, that should he be convicted of any sin,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 31:37

I would declare to him the number of my steps ,.... To his judge, or to him that contended with him, and drew up the bill against him; he would forward it, assist in it, furnish materials for it, give an account of all the transactions of his life that he could remember; this he says not as though he thought that God stood in need of any such declaration, since he better knows the actions of men than they themselves, compasses their paths, and is acquainted with all their ways; but to show... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 31:38

If my land cry against me ,.... Some think that this verse and Job 31:39 stand out of their place, and should rather follow after Job 31:34 ; and some place them after Job 31:25 ; and others after Job 31:8 ; but this is the order of them in all copies and versions, as they stand in our Bibles; and here, after Job had expressed his desire to have a hearer and judge of his cause, and his charge exhibited in writing, and his confidence of the issue of it, should it be granted, returns... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 31:39

If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money ,.... Or, "the strength thereof without silver" F2 ; see Genesis 4:12 , silver being the money chiefly in use in those times. Job's meaning is, that he ate not anything of the fruits and increase of his own land, without having paid for the same, which he would have done, if he had got his land out of the hands of the rightful owners of it, by deceit or violence; or if he had not paid his workmen for ploughing, sowing, reaping,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 31:40

Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley ,.... This is an imprecation of Job's, in which he wishes that if what he had said was not true, or if he was guilty of the crimes he denied, that when and where he sowed wheat, thorns or thistles might come up instead of it, or tares, as some Jewish writers F4 Bar Tzemach, et alii. interpret it; and that when and where he should sow barley, cockle, or darnel, or any "stinking" or "harmful" weed F5 באשה "herba... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 31

Job makes a solemn protestation of his chastity and integrity, Job 31:1-12 ; of his humanity, Job 31:13-16 ; of his charity and mercy, Job 31:17-23 ; of his abhorrence of covetousness and idolatry, Job 31:24-32 ; and of his readiness to acknowledge his errors, Job 31:33 , Job 31:34 ; and wishes for a full investigation of his case, being confident that this would issue in the full manifestation of his innocence, Job 31:36-40 . read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 31:1

I made a covenant with mine eyes - לעיני כרתי ברית berith carati leeynai : "I have cut" or divided "the covenant sacrifice with my eyes." My conscience and my eyes are the contracting parties; God is the Judge; and I am therefore bound not to look upon any thing with a delighted or covetous eye, by which my conscience may be defiled, or my God dishonored. Why then should I think upon a maid? - בתולה על אתבונן ומה umah ethbonen al bethulah . And why should I set myself to... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 31:2

For what portion of God is there from above? - Though I have not, in this or in any other respect, wickedly departed from God, yet what reward have I received? read more

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