If my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has followed my eyes, or if impurity has stuck to my hands,
Parallel translations
- WEB if my step has turned out of the way, if my heart walked after my eyes, if any defilement has stuck to my hands,
- KJV If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands;
- NKJV If my step has turned from the way, Or my heart walked after my eyes, Or if any spot adheres to my hands,
- NASB “If my step has turned from the way, Or my heart followed my eyes, Or if any spot has stuck to my hands,
- NLT If I have strayed from his pathway, or if my heart has lusted for what my eyes have seen, or if I am guilty of any other sin,
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 swears he has not strayed from the right path, let his heart follow his eyes, or let any stain cling to his hands. He affirms purity in conduct, desire, and action.
Overview
Job protests his faithfulness in walk, in the inner direction of his heart following his eyes, and in keeping his hands clean of defilement. The verse covers outward steps, inward desire, and concrete deeds, showing the comprehensiveness of his integrity. Such wholehearted righteousness is what God requires, and its perfect fulfillment is found in Christ, whose flawless obedience is credited to those who trust him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Num 15:39These will serve as tassels for you to look at, so that you may remember all the commandments of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by following your own heart and your own eyes.
- Eccl 11:9Rejoice, O young man, while you are young, and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes, but know that for all these things God will bring you to judgment.
- Matt 5:29If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
- Ezek 14:7For when any Israelite or any foreigner dwelling in Israel separates himself from Me, sets up idols in his heart, and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face, and then comes to the prophet to inquire of Me, I the LORD will answer him Myself.
- Ps 44:20–21If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
- Isa 33:15He who walks righteously and speaks with sincerity, who refuses gain from extortion, whose hand never takes a bribe, who stops his ears against murderous plots and shuts his eyes tightly against evil—
- Ezek 14:3“Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I consult with them in any way?
- Ezek 6:9Then in the nations to which they have been carried captive, your survivors will remember Me—how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts that turned away from Me, and by their eyes that lusted after idols. So they will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their abominations.
- Ps 101:3I will set no worthless thing before my eyes. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.
- Job 23:11My feet have followed in His tracks; I have kept His way without turning aside.
- Job 9:30If I should wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye,
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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 31:7 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.