Job 31:1
in Job 31“I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze with desire at a virgin?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I made a covenant with mine eyes; How then should I look upon a virgin?
KJV
I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?
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This verse in Job 31
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
I made a covenant with mine eyes - The first virtue of his private life to which Job refers is chastity. Such was his sense of the importance of this, and of the danger to which man was exposed, that he had solemnly resolved not to think upon a young female. The phrase here, “I made a covenant with mine eyes,” is poetical, meaning that he solemnly resolved. A covenant is of a sacred and binding nature; and the strength of his resolution was as great as if he had made a solemn compact.
This site's exposition
I have made a covenant with my eyes
on Job 31:1-3
“I have made a covenant with my eyes” opens Job's defense, which Henry reads as a discipline over the sense most apt to lead astray. Gill notes that Job argues from “the allotment of God from above” to what God will therefore require.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
I made a covenant with mine eyes that I should not even think upon a maid. Whereas the soul is invisible, it is in no degree affected by the delightfulness of things corporeal, except that, being closely attached to the body, it has the senses of that body as a kind of opening for going forth. For seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touching, are a kind of ways of the mind, by which it should come forth without, and go a lusting after the things that are without the limits of its substance.
After Job had told of his former prosperity (c.29) and his subsequent adversity, (c. 30) he now shows his innocence so that one does not believe that he had fallen into adversities because of sins. He begins to show his innocence by his freedom from …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
): I made a covenant with my eyes, that is, "I watched against the occasions of the sin; why then should I think upon a maid? " that is, "by that means, through the grace of God, I kept myself from the very first step towards it." So far was he from wanton dalliances, or any act of lasciviousness, that, (1.) He would not so much as admit a wanton look.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
), so he was careful not to offer any injury to his neighbour's marriage bed. How clear he was from this sin,
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
I made a covenant with mine eyes,....
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
He asserts his guarding against being allured to sin by his senses. think--rather, "cast a (lustful) look." He not merely did not so, but put it out of the question by covenanting with his eyes against leading him into temptation (Pr 6:25;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
I made a covenant with mine eyes - ברית כרתי לעיני berith carati leeynai: “I have cut” or divided “the covenant sacrifice with my eyes.” My conscience and my eyes are the contracting parties; God is the Judge; and I am therefore bound not to look upon any thing with a delighted or covetous eye, by which my conscience may be defiled, or my God dishonored. Why then should I think upon a maid? - ומה אתבונן על בתולה umah ethbonen al bethulah. And why should I set myself to contemplate, or think upon, Bethulah? That Bethulah may here signify an idol, is very likely. Sanchoniatho observes, that Ouranos first introduced Baithulia when he erected animated stones, or rather, as Bochart observes, Anointed stones, which became representatives of some deity. I suppose that Job purges himself here from this species of idolatry. Probably the Baithulia were at first emblems only of the tabernacle; בית אלוה beith Eloah, “the house of God;” or of that pillar set up by Jacob, Gen 28:18, which he called בית אלהים beith Elohim, or Bethalim; for idolatry always supposes a pure and holy worship, of which it is the counterfeit. For more on the subject of the Baithulia, see the notes on Gen 28:19.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
I made a covenant with my eyes not to gaze upon a married woman.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בְּ֭רִית | berit | a covenant | H1285 → | 284 times |
| כָּרַ֣תִּי | karati | I made | H3772 → | 288 times |
| לְעֵינָ֑י | leeinai | to eyes my | H5869 → | 887 times |
| וּמָ֥ה | umah | and what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| אֶ֝תְבּוֹנֵ֗ן | ʾetbonen | will I look carefully | H995 → | 170 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| בְּתוּלָֽה׃ | betulah | a virgin | H1330 → |
בְּ֭רִיתa covenant
beritH1285 →284 times
כָּרַ֣תִּיI made
karatiH3772 →288 times
לְעֵינָ֑יto eyes my
leeinaiH5869 →887 times
וּמָ֥הand what?
umahH4100 →752 times
אֶ֝תְבּוֹנֵ֗ןwill I look carefully
ʾetbonenH995 →170 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
בְּתוּלָֽה׃a virgin
betulahH1330 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 John 2:16For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world.
it leads to
- Romans 13:14
Instead, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.
- Galatians 5:17
For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want.
- Psalms 119:36–37
Turn my heart to Your testimonies and not to covetous gain.
- Genesis 3:6
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave…
- Proverbs 27:20
Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.
- Romans 13:14
Through
Psalms 119:37Turn my eyes away from worthless things; revive me with Your word.
it leads to
- 1 John 2:16
For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world.
- Proverbs 4:25
Let your eyes look forward; fix your gaze straight ahead.
- Isaiah 33:15
He 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—
- 1 John 2:16
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies5
About Job
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXI; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.