¶“If I have walked with deception, And my foot has hurried after 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;
- BSB If I have walked in falsehood or my foot has rushed to deceit,
- NKJV “If I have walked with falsehood, Or if my foot has hastened to 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 12:11He who tills his land shall have plenty of bread, but he who chases fantasies is void of understanding.
- Ps 44:20–21If we have forgotten the name of our God, or spread out our hands to a strange god;
- Ps 4:2You sons of men, how long shall my glory be turned into dishonor? Will you love vanity, and seek after falsehood? Selah.
- Ezek 13:8“‘Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Because you have spoken falsehood and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you,” says the Lord Yahweh.
- Jer 2:5Yahweh says, “What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after worthless vanity, and have become worthless?
- Mic 2:11If a man walking in a spirit of falsehood lies: “I will prophesy to you of wine and of strong drink”; he would be the prophet of this people.
- Ps 7:3–5Yahweh, my God, if I have done this, if there is iniquity in my hands,
- Ps 12:2Everyone lies to his neighbor. They speak with flattering lips, and with 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.