Job 31:14
in Job 31what will I do when God rises to judge? How will I answer when called to account?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
What then shall I do when God riseth up? And when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?
KJV
What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?
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This verse in Job 31
Commentary
6 notes on this verseFor what shall I do, when God riseth up to judge; and when He seeketh, what shall I answer Him? He who thinks on the Judge to come, is unceasingly day by day preparing the cases of his accounts for the better: he who views the Eternal Lord with trembling of heart, is forced to abate the rights of temporal lordship over those under him. For he considers well that it is nothing that he is set above others in time, when for the rendering account he is beneath Him, Who exercises dominion without end.
This site's exposition
the cause of my manservant
on Job 31:13-15
“If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or maidservant” turns the oath to Job's servants, whom the ancient world rarely allowed to complain. He asks whether the same One did not form us in the womb, which Henry reads as the ground of the servant's claim.
This site's exposition
when God rises to judge
Barnes pictures God rising to pronounce sentence. The master who rejected a servant's complaint would then have to answer the One who made them both. Aquinas adds that such a man would find no helper at that judgment.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
He shows why he did not despise submitting to judgment with his servants saying, "When the Lord God rises up to judge me," that is, when he himself comes to judge, if I now despise his judgment, I would have no one in whose help …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
What then shall I do when God riseth up?....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
What then shall I do when God riseth up? - That is, when he rises up to pronounce sentence upon people, or to execute impartial justice. Job admits that if he had done injustice to a servant, he would have reason to dread the divine indignation, and that he could have no excuse. “I tremble,” said President Jefferson, speaking of slavery in the United States “when I remember that God is just!” Notes on Virginia. And when he visiteth - When he comes to inspect human conduct.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
then what will I do etc. I took this to heart, and when He visits, what will I answer Him?
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
and form us both in the womb? I in my mother’s womb and he in his mother’s womb—did not One creator form us?
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
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּמָ֣ה | umah | and what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| אֶֽ֭עֱשֶׂה | ʾeeseh | will I do | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | if | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| יָק֣וּם | yakum | he will arise | H6965 → | 628 times |
| אֵ֑ל | ʾel | God | H410 → | 241 times |
| וְכִֽי־ | vekhi- | and if | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| יִ֝פְקֹ֗ד | yifkod | he will visit | H6485 → | 303 times |
| מָ֣ה | mah | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| אֲשִׁיבֶֽנּוּ׃ | ʾashivenu | will I respond to him | H7725 → | 1056 times |
וּמָ֣הand what?
umahH4100 →752 times
אֶֽ֭עֱשֶׂהwill I do
ʾeesehH6213 →2628 times
כִּֽי־if
ki-H3588 →4482 times
יָק֣וּםhe will arise
yakumH6965 →628 times
אֵ֑לGod
ʾelH410 →241 times
וְכִֽי־and if
vekhi-H3588 →4482 times
יִ֝פְקֹ֗דhe will visit
yifkodH6485 →303 times
מָ֣הwhat?
mahH4100 →752 times
אֲשִׁיבֶֽנּוּ׃will I respond to him
ʾashivenuH7725 →1056 times
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
James 2:13For judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
it leads to
- Matthew 5:7
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
- Proverbs 21:13
Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too shall cry out and receive no answer.
- Matthew 6:15
But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive yours.
- Luke 6:37
Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
- Ephesians 2:4–7
But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
- Matthew 5:7
Through
Zechariah 2:13Be silent before the LORD, all people, for He has roused Himself from His holy dwelling.”
it leads to
- Habakkuk 2:20
But the LORD is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before Him.
- Habakkuk 2:20
Through
Psalms 9:12For the Avenger of bloodshed remembers; He does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.
it leads to
- Psalms 34:6
This poor man called out, and the LORD heard him; He saved him from all his troubles.
- Exodus 3:7
The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the affliction of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I am aware of their sufferings.
- Psalms 34:6
Where this verse is studied
About Job
This page draws on 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; 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.