if my step has turned out of the way, if my heart walked after my eyes, if any defilement has stuck to my hands,
Parallel translations
- 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;
- BSB If my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has followed my eyes, or if impurity has stuck to my 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 15:39and it shall be to you for a fringe, that you may look on it, and remember all Yahweh’s commandments, and do them; and that you not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you use to play the prostitute;
- Eccl 11:9Rejoice, young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth, and 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 into judgment.
- Matt 5:29If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.
- Ezek 14:7“‘“For everyone of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who live in Israel, who separates himself from me, and takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet to inquire for himself of me; I Yahweh will answer him by myself.
- Ps 44:20–21If we have forgotten the name of our God, or spread out our hands to a strange god;
- Isa 33:15He who walks righteously, and speaks blamelessly; He who despises the gain of oppressions, who gestures with his hands, refusing to take a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from looking at evil —
- Ezek 14:3“Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face. Should I be inquired of at all by them?
- Ezek 6:9Those of you that escape will remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, how I have been broken with their lewd heart, which has departed from me, and with their eyes, which play the prostitute after their idols. Then they will loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.
- Ps 101:3I will set no vile thing before my eyes. I hate the deeds of faithless men. They will not cling to me.
- Job 23:11My foot has held fast to his steps. I have kept his way, and not turned aside.
- Job 9:30If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye,
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 31:7 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.