Job 31:13-23 - Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Reader Related Verse
Bible Comments

If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me;

Job affirms his freedom from unfairness toward his servants: from harshness and oppression toward the needy.

Despise the cause - refused to do them justice.

Verse 14,15. Parenthetical; the reason why Job did not despise the cause of his servants. Translate, What then (had I done so) could I have done, when God arose (to call me to account); and when He visited (came to inquire), what could I have answered Him?

Verse 15. Slaveholders try to defend themselves by maintaining the original inferiority of the slave. But Malachi 2:10; Acts 17:26; Ephesians 6:9, make the common origin of masters and servants the argument for brotherly love being shown by the former to the latter.

Verse 16. To fail - in the vain expectation of relief (Job 11:20).

Verse 17. Arabian rules of hospitality require the stranger to be helped first, and to the best.

Verse 18. Parenthetical: asserting that he did the contrary to the things in Job 31:16-17.

He - the orphan.

Guided her - namely, the widow, by advice and protection. On this and "a father" see Job 29:16.

Verse 19. Perish - i:e., ready to perish (Job 29:13).

Verse 20. Loins. The parts of the body benefitted by Job are poetically described as thanking him. The loins, before naked, when clad by me, wished me every blessing.

Verse 21. "When (i:e., because) I saw" that I might calculate on the "help" of a powerful party in the court of justice ("gate"), if I should be summoned by the injured fatherless.

Verse 22. Apodosis to Job 31:13; Job 31:16-17; Job 31:19-21. If I had done those crimes I should have made a bad use of my influence (my arm, figuratively, Job 31:21): therefore, if I have done them, let my arm (literally) suffer: retribution in kind. Job alludes to Eliphaz' charge (Job 22:9). The first "arm" is rather the shoulder. The second "arm" is the forearm.

From the bone - literally, a reed х qaaneh (H7070)]: hence, the bone of the upper arm, above the elbow.

Verse 23. For - i:e., the reason why Job guarded against such sins. Fear of God, though he could escape man's judgment (Genesis 39:9). Umbreit translates, 'Yea, destruction and terror from God might have befallen me had I done so' I prefer the English version.

Highness - majestic might.

Endure - I could have availed nothing against it. "I could not endure" the assault of His might, if He should put it forth against me.

Related Commentaries of Job 31:13

Job 31:13-23

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?

15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not onea 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;

17 Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;

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

19 If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;

20 If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;

21 If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:

22 Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.b

23 For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.