If my heart has been enticed by my neighbor’s wife, or I have lurked at his door,
Parallel translations
- WEB “If my heart has been enticed to a woman, and I have laid wait at my neighbor’s door,
- KJV If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour’s door;
- NKJV “If my heart has been enticed by a woman, Or if I have lurked at my neighbor’s door,
- NASB ¶“If my heart has been enticed by a woman, Or I have lurked at my neighbor’s doorway,
- NLT “If my heart has been seduced by a woman, or if I have lusted for my neighbor’s wife,
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 been seduced into adultery or lain in wait at his neighbor's door. He defends his faithfulness in marriage.
Overview
Job denies that his heart has been enticed toward another man's wife or that he has schemed to commit adultery. This affirms his obedience to the moral law protecting marriage and his neighbor's household. Marital faithfulness reflects God's covenant love, and the union of husband and wife ultimately pictures Christ and his bride the church, whose faithfulness to one another the gospel upholds.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- 1 Kgs 11:4For when Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the LORD his God, as his father David had been.
- Eccl 7:26And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a net, and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is ensnared.
- Judg 16:5The lords of the Philistines went to her and said, “Entice him and find out the source of his great strength and how we can overpower him to tie him up and subdue him. Then each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.”
- Hos 7:4They are all adulterers, like an oven heated by a baker who needs not stoke the fire from the kneading to the rising of the dough.
- Job 24:15–16The eye of the adulterer watches for twilight. Thinking, ‘No eye will see me,’ he covers his face.
- Prov 22:14The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit; he who is under the wrath of the LORD will fall into it.
- Prov 6:25Do not lust in your heart for her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes.
- Neh 13:26Did not King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations, and he was loved by his God, who made him king over all Israel—yet foreign women drew him into sin.
- Prov 2:16–19It will rescue you from the forbidden woman, from the stranger with seductive words
- Jer 5:8They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing after his neighbor’s wife.
- Prov 7:21With her great persuasion she entices him; with her flattering lips she lures him.
- Prov 5:3–23Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil,
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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 31:9 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.