Job 31:11
in Job 31For that would be a heinous crime, an iniquity to be judged.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For that were a heinous crime; Yea, it were an iniquity to be punished by the judges:
KJV
For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.
⋯
This verse in Job 31
Commentary
8 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
For this is an heinous crime - This expresses Job’s sense of the enormity of such an offence. He felt that there was no palliation for it; he would in no way, and on no pretence, attempt to vindicate it. An iniquity to be punished by the judges - A crime for the judges to determine on and decide. The sins which Job had specified before this, were those of the heart; but here he refers to a crime against society - an offence which deserved the interposition of the magistrate.
This site's exposition
a heinous crime
on Job 31:11-12
“For it is a fire that burns down to Abaddon; it would root out my entire harvest” completes the figure begun in verse 8. Delitzsch reads the fire as the image Proverbs uses for the ruin of adultery, a sin that burns through all a household has built.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
He shows why he avoided this sin saying, "This is a sinful thing," because it is against the law of God which bound a man and a woman in matrimony. (cf. Matt. 19:6) "And," if one considers human justice, it is, "the greatest evil," because …
For this is an heinous crime; and the chiefest iniquity. For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and that rooteth out all increase. There is this difference between 'sin' and 'crime,' that all crime is sin, but not all sin is crime. And in this life there are numbers without crime, but no one can be without sins. And hence the holy preacher, when he was describing a man worthy of the grace of the priesthood, never said, 'if any be without sin,' but if any be without crime.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
), one of the greatest vilest sins a man can be guilty of, highly provoking to God, and destructive to the prosperity of the soul. With respect to the mischievousness of it, and the punishment it deserved, he owns that, if he were guilty of that heinous crime, (1.) His family might justly be made infamous in the highest degree (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
For this is an heinous crime,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
In the earliest times punished with death (Ge 38:24). So in later times (De 22:22). Heretofore he had spoken only of sins against conscience; now, one against the community, needing the cognizance of the judge.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
For this is a heinous crime - Mr. Good translates, “For this would be a premeditated crime, And a profligacy of the understanding.” See also Job 31:28. That is, It would not only be a sin against the individuals more particularly concerned, but a sin of the first magnitude against society; and one of which the civil magistrate should take particular cognizance, and punish as justice requires.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
For that is lewdness and I feared that if I committed it, that it is iniquity deserving punishment iniquity for which judgment of suffering is fit to come.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
may my wife grind for someone else Our Sages explained this as an expression of sexual intercourse, as in (Jud.:21), “and he did grind in the prison house.”
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
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| הִ֥יא | hu' | that | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| זִמָּ֑ה | zimah | [is] wickedness | H2154 → | |
| וְ֝ה֗וּא | vehi' | and that | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| עָוֹ֥ן | ʾavon | [is] iniquity | H5771 → | 233 times |
| פְּלִילִֽים׃ | pelilim | judges | H6414 → |
כִּי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
הִ֥יאthat
hu'H1931 →1879 times
זִמָּ֑ה[is] wickedness
zimahH2154 →
וְ֝ה֗וּאand that
vehi'H1931 →1879 times
עָוֹ֥ן[is] iniquity
ʾavonH5771 →233 times
פְּלִילִֽים׃judges
pelilimH6414 →
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
Leviticus 20:10If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must surely be put to death.
it leads to
- John 8:4–5
and said, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.
- Deuteronomy 22:22–24
If a man is found lying with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.
- Deuteronomy 5:18
You shall not commit adultery.
- Exodus 20:14
You shall not commit adultery.
- John 8:4–5
Through
Genesis 38:24About three months later, Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has prostituted herself, and now she is pregnant.” “Bring her out!” Judah replied. “Let her be burned to death!”
it leads to
- Leviticus 21:9
If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by prostituting herself, she profanes her father; she must be burned in the fire.
- Leviticus 21:9
Through
Job 31:28this would also be an iniquity to be judged, for I would have denied God on high.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 17:2–7
If a man or woman among you in one of the towns that the LORD your God gives you is found doing evil in the sight of the LORD your God by transgressing His…
- Psalms 50:6
And the heavens proclaim His righteousness, for God Himself is Judge. Selah
- Deuteronomy 17:2–7
Through
Ezekiel 16:38And I will sentence you to the punishment of women who commit adultery and those who shed blood; so I will bring upon you the wrath of your bloodshed and jealousy.
it leads to
- Leviticus 20:10
If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress must surely be put to death.
- Leviticus 20:10
Where this verse is studied
About Job
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; 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.