Job 31:2
in Job 31For what is the allotment of God from above, or the heritage from the Almighty on high?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For what is the portion from God above, And the heritage from the Almighty on high?
KJV
For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?
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This verse in Job 31
Commentary
10 notes on this verseFor what portion would God have in me from above, and what inheritance would the Almighty have from on high? As though he said in plain words; 'If I defile, my mind in thought, I can never be the 'inheritance' of Him, Who is the Author of purity.' For the rest are no good things at all, if to the eyes of the secret Judge they be not approved by the testimony of chastity.
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.
This site's exposition
the allotment of God from above
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown tie the question to the covenant of Job 31:1. Had his eyes led him to desire, what allotment of God could he expect from above? Henry answers that impurity leaves no heritage with the Almighty.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Then he shows why he is so solicitous to avoid this sin. First, he assigns the reason on the grounds that man seems to go away from God especially in the sin of lust. For man approaches God by spiritual actions, which are especially impeded …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Those that wallow in uncleanness render themselves utterly unfit for communion with God, either in grace here or in glory hereafter, and become allied to unclean spirits, which are for ever separated from him; and then what portion, what inheritance, can they have with God? No unclean thing shall enter into the New Jerusalem, that holy city. (2.) It is a sin that incurs divine vengeance,
For what portion of God is there from above?....
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
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Had I let my senses tempt me to sin, "what portion (would there have been to me, that is, must I have expected) from (literally, of) God above, and what inheritance from (literally, of) the Almighty," &c. [MAURER] (Job 20:29;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
For what portion of God is there from above? - Though I have not, in this or in any other respect, wickedly departed from God, yet what reward have I received?
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
For what portion of God is there from above? - Or, rather, “What portion should I then have from God who reigns above?” Job asks with emphasis, what portion or reward he should expect from God who reigns on high, if he had not made such a covenant with his eyes, and if he had given the reins to loose and wanton thoughts? This question he himself answers in the following verse, and says, that he could have expected only destruction from the Almighty.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּמֶ֤ה׀ | umeh | and what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| חֵ֣לֶק | chelek | [is] [the] portion of | H2506 → | 67 times |
| אֱל֣וֹהַּ | ʾeloah | God | H433 → | 57 times |
| מִמָּ֑עַל | mimaal | <from> above | H4605 → | 140 times |
| וְֽנַחֲלַ֥ת | venachalat | and [the] inheritance of | H5159 → | 222 times |
| שַׁ֝דַּ֗י | shadai | [the] Almighty | H7706 → | 48 times |
| מִמְּרֹמִֽים׃ | mimeromim | from high places | H4791 → | 54 times |
וּמֶ֤ה׀and what?
umehH4100 →752 times
חֵ֣לֶק[is] [the] portion of
chelekH2506 →67 times
אֱל֣וֹהַּGod
ʾeloahH433 →57 times
מִמָּ֑עַל<from> above
mimaalH4605 →140 times
וְֽנַחֲלַ֥תand [the] inheritance of
venachalatH5159 →222 times
שַׁ֝דַּ֗י[the] Almighty
shadaiH7706 →48 times
מִמְּרֹמִֽים׃from high places
mimeromimH4791 →54 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
Hebrews 13:4Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
it leads to
- Genesis 2:24
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
- Proverbs 5:15–23
Drink water from your own cistern, and running water from your own well.
- 1 Corinthians 7:2–16
But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband.
- Galatians 5:19
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;
- Genesis 1:27–28
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
- Genesis 2:24
Through
Job 20:29This is the wicked man’s portion from God, the inheritance God has appointed him.”
it leads to
- Job 27:13
This is the wicked man’s portion from God—the heritage the ruthless receive from the Almighty.
- Job 31:2–3
For what is the allotment of God from above, or the heritage from the Almighty on high?
- Psalms 11:5–6
The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked; His soul hates the lover of violence.
- Job 27:13
Where this verse is studied
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.