If I have walked in falsehood or my foot has rushed to deceit,
Parallel translations
- WEB “If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hurried to deceit
- KJV If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit;
- NKJV “If I have walked with falsehood, Or if my foot has hastened to deceit,
- NASB ¶“If I have walked with deception, And my foot has hurried after deceit,
- NLT “Have I lied to anyone or deceived anyone?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Job begins a series of oaths, calling down judgment on himself if he has walked in falsehood or hurried to deceit. It opens his solemn defense of his honesty.
Overview
Job swears that he has not lived a life of lies or rushed to deceive others, inviting a curse upon himself if he has. This self-imprecation form shows his confidence in his integrity before God. His protest of truthfulness reflects the character God desires, ultimately seen perfectly in Christ, in whose mouth no deceit was found and who is himself the Truth.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Prov 12:11The one who works his land will have plenty of food, but whoever chases fantasies lacks judgment.
- Ps 44:20–21If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
- Ps 4:2How long, O men, will my honor be maligned? How long will you love vanity and seek after lies? Selah
- Ezek 13:8Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Because you have uttered vain words and seen false visions, I am against you, declares the Lord GOD.
- Jer 2:5This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your fathers find in Me that they strayed so far from Me, and followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves?
- Mic 2:11If a man of wind were to come and say falsely, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,” he would be just the preacher for this people!
- Ps 7:3–5O LORD my God, if I have done this, if injustice is on my hands,
- Ps 12:2They lie to one another; they speak with flattering lips and a double heart.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 31:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.