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Job 31:25

in Job 31

if I have rejoiced in my great wealth because my hand had gained so much,

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, And because my hand had gotten much;

KJV

If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much;

This verse in Job 31

Commentary

8 notes on this verse
If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great - That is, if I have rejoiced as if I might now confide in it, or put my trust in it. He had not found his principal joy in his property, nor had he attempted to find in that the happiness which he ought to seek in God. And because mine hand had gotten much - Margin, found. Prof. Lee translates this, “When as a mighty man my hand prevailed.” But the usual interpretation is given in our translation, and this accords better with the connection.

This site's exposition

If I have put my trust in gold

on Job 31:24-25

“If I have put my trust in gold or called pure gold my security” denies trust moved from God onto wealth. The next line denies pride of increase as well. Gill reads the pair as covering both inward reliance on riches and outward delight in having them.

This site's exposition

rejoiced in my great wealth

Barnes reads the joy as trust, a heart resting on great wealth. Henry draws the lesson. The less pleasure a man takes in what his hand has gained, the less pain he feels when it is gone.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

John Chrysostom

COMMENTARY ON JOB 31:17-25 · Written before 407.

proposed

Now what kind of fault can be detected there? You see that he is not keen on riches. Observe him, while he reflects and considers in truth the accidental, transitory, ephemeral and negligible character of human realities.

The Medieval Church2 voices

A commentator

Thomas Aquinas

Commentary on Job · Written before 1274.

proposed

Second, the affection of man is disordered through riches from the fact that he rejoices too much in possessing them, and so as to riches he already possessed he continues, "If I rejoiced," inordinately, "over my abundant riches," which I possessed as my own. As …

A commentator

Gregory the Dialogist

Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXII · Written before 604.

proposed

If I rejoiced over my great wealth, and because mine hand found much. For holy men in the wofulness of this pilgrimage, because that Appearance of their Creator, which they long after, they are not yet suffered to contemplate at all, account all the fulness of the present life as destitution, because nothing out of God suffices the mind which really seeks after God; and it is very often the case that to such persons their very abundance itself becomes exceedingly burthensome, because this thing alone they bear as a grievance, that in hastening to their country they carry many things on the journey.

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

The way to weep as though we wept not is to rejoice as though we rejoiced not. The less pleasure the enjoyment is the less pain the disappointment will be. He protests that he never gave the worship and glory to the creature which are due to God only; he was never guilty of idolatry,
If I rejoiced because my wealth was great,....

The words behind it

9 Hebrew words

Every 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.

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Psalms 62:10

    Place no trust in extortion, or false hope in stolen goods. If your riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.

    it leads to

    • 1 Timothy 6:17

      Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be conceited and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of wealth, but in God, who richly provides all things for us…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Psalms 52:7

      “Look at the man who did not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his wealth and strengthened himself by destruction.”

    • Jeremiah 17:11

      Like a partridge hatching eggs it did not lay is the man who makes a fortune unjustly. In the middle of his days his riches will desert him, and in the end he will…

    • Deuteronomy 6:10–12

      And when the LORD your God brings you into the land He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that He would give you—a land with great and splendid cities that you…

    • 1 Timothy 6:10

      For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

  • Through

    Proverbs 23:5

    When you glance at wealth, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.

    it leads to

    • Proverbs 27:24

      for riches are not forever, nor does a crown endure to every generation.

    • 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.

  • Through

    Hosea 12:8

    And Ephraim boasts: “How rich I have become! I have found wealth for myself. In all my labors, they can find in me no iniquity that is sinful.”

    it leads to

    • Revelation 3:17

      You say, ‘I am rich; I have grown wealthy and need nothing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.

Where this verse is studied

About Job

Job Hears of His Misfortunes, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Job Hears of His Misfortunes, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

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 XXII; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON JOB 31:17-25; 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.