If I did despise, &c.— See on chap. Job 19:25. The 14th verse should be rendered in the future, agreeably to the Hebrew; what shall I do, when God shall arise; and when he shall visit, what shall I answer him? Job here plainly speaks of something which he was infallibly to expect, had he behaved unjustly to his slave: but could we suppose him to mean it of any temporal judgment or visitation of God, what is it that he had to expect? He seems to think his condition so miserable already, that it was scarcely possible for him to fall lower; and therefore he often and earnestly wishes for death, as the happiest thing that could befal him. We need not question, therefore, but he had an eye to the future judgment; and it is remarkable, that he expresses himself in the same phrase here as he does in chap. Job 19:25. When God shall arise. See Peters, and the note on that place.
Related Commentaries of Job 31:13
Job 31:13-14
13 If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me;
14 What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?