Job 31

Reina Valera 1909 (RV1909) · Español

1 HICE pacto con mis ojos: ¿cómo pues había yo de pensar en virgen? 2 Porque ¿qué galardón me daría de arriba Dios, y qué heredad el Omnipotente de las alturas? 3 ¿No hay quebrantamiento para el impío, y extrañamiento para los que obran iniquidad? 4 ¿No ve él mis caminos, y cuenta todos mis pasos? 5 Si anduve con mentira, y si mi pie se apresuró á engaño, 6 Péseme Dios en balanzas de justicia, y conocerá mi integridad. 7 Si mis pasos se apartaron del camino, y si mi corazón se fué tras mis ojos, y si algo se apegó á mis manos, 8 Siembre yo, y otro coma, y mis verduras sean arrancadas. 9 Si fué mi corazón engañado acerca de mujer, y si estuve acechando á la puerta de mi prójimo: 10 Muela para otro mi mujer, y sobre ella otros se encorven. 11 Porque es maldad é iniquidad, que han de castigar los jueces. 12 Porque es fuego que devoraría hasta el sepulcro, y desarraigaría toda mi hacienda. 13 Si hubiera tenido en poco el derecho de mi siervo y de mi sierva, cuando ellos pleitearan conmigo, 14 ¿Qué haría yo cuando Dios se levantase? y cuando él visitara, ¿qué le respondería yo? 15 El que en el vientre me hizo á mí, ¿no lo hizo á él? ¿y no nos dispuso uno mismo en la matriz? 16 Si estorbé el contento de los pobres, é hice desfallecer los ojos de la viuda; 17 Y si comí mi bocado solo, y no comió de él el huérfano; 18 (Porque desde mi mocedad creció conmigo como con padre, y desde el vientre de mi madre fuí guía de la viuda;) 19 Si he visto que pereciera alguno sin vestido, y al menesteroso sin cobertura; 20 Si no me bendijeron sus lomos, y del vellón de mis ovejas se calentaron; 21 Si alcé contra el huérfano mi mano, aunque viese que me ayudarían en la puerta; 22 Mi espalda se caiga de mi hombro, y mi brazo sea quebrado de mi canilla. 23 Porque temí el castigo de Dios, contra cuya alteza yo no tendría poder. 24 Si puse en oro mi esperanza, y dije al oro: Mi confianza eres tú; 25 Si me alegré de que mi hacienda se multiplicase, y de que mi mano hallase mucho; 26 Si he mirado al sol cuando resplandecía, y á la luna cuando iba hermosa, 27 Y mi corazón se engañó en secreto, y mi boca besó mi mano: 28 Esto también fuera maldad juzgada; porque habría negado al Dios soberano. 29 Si me alegré en el quebrantamiento del que me aborrecía, y me regocijé cuando le halló el mal; 30 (Que ni aun entregué al pecado mi paladar, pidiendo maldición para su alma;) 31 Cuando mis domésticos decían: ¡Quién nos diese de su carne! nunca nos hartaríamos. 32 El extranjero no tenía fuera la noche; mis puertas abría al caminante. 33 Si encubrí, como los hombres mis prevaricaciones, escondiendo en mi seno mi iniquidad; 34 Porque quebrantaba á la gran multitud, y el menosprecio de las familias me atemorizó, y callé, y no salí de mi puerta: 35 ¡Quién me diera quien me oyese! He aquí mi impresión es que el Omnipotente testificaría por mí, aunque mi adversario me hiciera el proceso. 36 Ciertamente yo lo llevaría sobre mi hombro, y me lo ataría en lugar de corona. 37 Yo le contaría el número de mis pasos, y como príncipe me llegaría á él. 38 Si mi tierra clama contra mí, y lloran todos sus surcos; 39 Si comí su sustancia sin dinero, ó afligí el alma de sus dueños; 40 En lugar de trigo me nazcan abrojos, y espinas en lugar de cebada. Acábanse las palabras de Job.

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Job 31:1-4

Job 31:1-40.

1. Job proceeds to prove that he deserved a better lot. As in the twenty-ninth chapter, he showed his uprightness as an emir, or magistrate in public life, so in this chapter he vindicates his character in private life.

1-4. He asserts his guarding against being allured to sin by his senses.

think--rather, "cast a (lustful) look." He not merely did not so, but put it out of the question by covenanting with his eyes against leading him into temptation (Pr 6:25; Mt 5:28).

Job 31:5

5. Job's abstinence from evil deeds.

vanity--that is, falsehood (Psa 12:2).

Job 31:6

6. Parenthetical. Translate: "Oh, that God would weigh me ... then would He know," &c.

Job 31:8

8. Apodosis to Job 31:5, 7; the curses which he imprecates on himself, if he had done these things (Le 26:16; Am 9:14; Psa 128:2).

offspring--rather, "what I plant," my harvests.

Job 31:9-12

9-12. Job asserts his innocence of adultery.

deceived--hath let itself be seduced (Pr 7:8; Ge 39:7-12).

laid wait--until the husband went out.

Job 31:13-23

13-23. Job affirms his freedom from unfairness towards his servants, from harshness and oppression towards the needy.

despise the cause--refused to do them justice.

Job 31:24-25

24-25. Job asserts his freedom from trust in money (1Ti 6:17). Here he turns to his duty towards God, as before he had spoken of his duty towards himself and his neighbor. Covetousness is covert idolatry, as it transfers the heart from the Creator to the creature (Col 3:5). In Job 31:26, 27 he passes to overt idolatry.

Job 31:26

26. If I looked unto the sun (as an object of worship) because he shined; or to the moon because she walked, &c. Sabaism (from tsaba, "the heavenly hosts") was the earliest form of false worship. God is hence called in contradistinction, "Lord of Sabaoth." The sun, moon, and stars, the brightest objects in nature, and seen everywhere, were supposed to be visible representatives of the invisible God. They had no temples, but were worshipped on high places and roofs of houses (Eze 8:16; De 4:19; 2Ki 23:5, 11). The Hebrew here for "sun" is light. Probably light was worshipped as the emanation from God, before its embodiments, the sun, &c. This worship prevailed in Chaldea; wherefore Job's exemption from the idolatry of his neighbors was the more exemplary. Our "Sun-day," "Mon-day," or Moon-day, bear traces of Sabaism.

Job 31:27

27. enticed--away from God to idolatry.

kissed ... hand--"adoration," literally means this. In worshipping they used to kiss the hand, and then throw the kiss, as it were, towards the object of worship (1Ki 19:18; Ho 13:2).

Job 31:28

28. The Mosaic law embodied subsequently the feeling of the godly from the earliest times against idolatry, as deserving judicial penalties: being treason against the Supreme King (De 13:9; 17:2-7; Eze 8:14-18). This passage therefore does not prove Job to have been subsequent to Moses.

Job 31:30

30. mouth--literally, "palate." (See on Job 6:30).

wishing--literally, "so as to demand his (my enemy's) soul," that is, "life by a curse." This verse parenthetically confirms Job 31:30. Job in the patriarchal age of the promise, anterior to the law, realizes the Gospel spirit, which was the end of the law (compare Le 19:18; De 23:6, with Mt 5:43, 44).

Job 31:31

31. That is, Job's household said, Oh, that we had Job's enemy to devour, we cannot rest satisfied till we have! But Job refrained from even wishing revenge (1Sa 26:8; 2Sa 16:9, 10). So Jesus Christ (Lu 9:54, 55). But, better (see Job 31:32), translated, "Who can show (literally, give) the man who was not satisfied with the flesh (meat) provided by Job?" He never let a poor man leave his gate without giving him enough to eat.

Job 31:32

32. traveller--literally, "way," that is, wayfarers; so expressed to include all of every kind (2Sa 12:4).

Job 31:33

33. Adam--translated by Umbreit, "as men do" (Ho 6:7, where see Margin). But English Version is more natural. The very same word for "hiding" is used in Ge 3:8, 10, of Adam hiding himself from God. Job elsewhere alludes to the flood. So he might easily know of the fall, through the two links which connect Adam and Abraham (about Job's time), namely, Methuselah and Shem. Adam is representative of fallen man's propensity to concealment (Pr 28:13). It was from God that Job did not "hide his iniquity in his bosom," as on the contrary it was from God that "Adam" hid in his lurking-place. This disproves the translation, "as men"; for it is from their fellow men that "men" are chiefly anxious to hide their real character as guilty. Magee, to make the comparison with Adam more exact, for my "bosom" translates, "lurking-place."

Job 31:34

34. Rather, the apodosis to Job 31:33, "Then let me be fear-stricken before a great multitude, let the contempt, &c., let me keep silence (the greatest disgrace to a patriot, heretofore so prominent in assemblies), and not go out," &c. A just retribution that he who hides his sin from God, should have it exposed before man (2Sa 12:12). But Job had not been so exposed, but on the contrary was esteemed in the assemblies of the "tribes"--("families"); a proof, he implies, that God does not hold him guilty of hiding sin (Job 24:16, contrast with Job 29:21-25).

Job 31:35

35. Job returns to his wish (Job 13:22; 19:23). Omit "is"; "Behold my sign," that is, my mark of subscription to the statements just given in my defense: the mark of signature was originally a cross; and hence the letter Tau or T. Translate, also "Oh, that the Almighty," &c. He marks "God" as the "One" meant in the first clause.

adversary--that is, he who contends with me, refers also to God. The vagueness is designed to express "whoever it be that judicially opposes me"--the Almighty if it be He.

had written a book--rather, "would write down his charge."

Job 31:36

36. So far from hiding the adversary's "answer" or "charge" through fear,

I would take it on my shoulders--as a public honor (Is 9:6).

a crown--not a mark of shame, but of distinction (Is 62:3).

Job 31:37

37. A good conscience imparts a princely dignity before man and free assurance in approaching God. This can be realized, not in Job's way (Job 42:5, 6); but only through Jesus Christ (He 10:22).

Job 31:38

38. Personification. The complaints of the unjustly ousted proprietors are transferred to the lands themselves (Job 31:20; Ge 4:10; Ha 2:11). If I have unjustly acquired lands (Job 24:2; Is 5:8).

furrows--The specification of these makes it likely, he implies in this, "If I paid not the laborer for tillage"; as Job 31:39, "If I paid him not for gathering in the fruits." Thus of the four clauses in Job 31:38, 39, the first refers to the same subject as the fourth, the second is connected with the third by introverted parallelism. Compare Jas 5:4, which plainly alludes to this passage: compare "Lord of Sabaoth" with Job 31:26 here.

Job 31:39

39. lose ... life--not literally, but "harassed to death"; until he gave me up his land gratis [Maurer]; as in Jud 16:16; "suffered him to languish" by taking away his means of living [Umbreit] (1Ki 21:19).

Job 31:40

40. thistles--or brambles, thorns.

cockle--literally, "noxious weeds."

The words ... ended--that is, in the controversy with the friends. He spoke in the book afterwards, but not to them. At Job 31:37 would be the regular conclusion in strict art. But Job 31:38-40 are naturally added by one whose mind in agitation recurs to its sense of innocence, even after it has come to the usual stopping point; this takes away the appearance of rhetorical artifice. Hence the transposition by Eichorn of Job 31:38-40 to follow Job 31:25 is quite unwarranted.

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