Job 31:26
in Job 31if I have beheld the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
If I have beheld the sun when it shined, Or the moon walking in brightness,
KJV
If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness;
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This verse in Job 31
Commentary
11 notes on this verseIf I saw the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness, and my heart hath secretly rejoiced, and I have kissed my hand with my mouth; which is an exceeding iniquity, and denial against the Most High God. There is no doubt that both these two luminaries, which are commissioned to ministrations for man, are called 'the hosts of heaven.' Into the worshipping whereof we know that numbers have fallen, as Scripture is witness; as where it is written, And worshipped all the host of heaven.
This site's exposition
I have beheld the sun in its radiance
on Job 31:26-28
Job's oath about “the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor” names the oldest idolatry, which Deuteronomy 4:19 and 17:3 condemn. The gesture in which “my hand threw a kiss from my mouth” is private homage, which Delitzsch reads as the ritual the Hebrew names.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"If I had looked at the sun when it shone or the moon moving in splendor," that is, if I had seen the rising sun and worshiped it or had embraced the moon and kneeled down before it, I would have certainly erred in worshiping …
The Medieval Church2 voices
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XXII · Written before 604.
proposed
[ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION] Since 'the sun in brightness,' is good practice in outward manifesting. For it is written, Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Which is in heaven. And again, Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning. For what in this passage is denoted by the 'sun shining,' is in the Gospel denoted by 'lamps burning.' For when good practice shines in the midst of faithless persons, 'a lamp burns' in the night, but when it shines out in the Church, 'the sun shines' in the day. For good practice if it be as yet such as bad men only wonder at, is doubtless a 'lamp' in the night; but if it so makes way that it may be admired by the good and more perfect kind, then it is the sun in the day time. When good practice shines by the active life of the body, it is as if after the manner of a candle light shineth out of an earthenware vessel. But when by the excellence of the mind alone it is raised up in contemplation, it is as if after the manner of the sun light is seen coming from heaven. Therefore because blessed Job had told of himself many good things appertaining to hospitality and mercifulness, which same surely he knew as still the least, in proportion as done in the bodily way of doing; recalling the eye of the mind to the topmost height of spiritual virtues, he remembered his own perfectness, and the light of examples which he gave to others in himself, he called 'the sun.' But there are some persons who when they do any good things, directly forget their wickednesses, and they fix the eye of the mind in the contemplation of the good practices which they exhibit; and henceforth account themselves holy, in the degree that amidst the good things that they do they shun the recollection of their evil deeds, in which perchance they are still entangled. […]
Then he excuses himself from the sin of superstition, which is against God. In ancient times idol-worshipers worshipped the stars of heaven, especially the great lights because of their great brightness. He shows he does not saying, "If I looked at the sun when it …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
I - This place speaks of the worship of the host of heaven, and especially of the sun and moon, the most eminent and glorious of that number, which was the most ancient kind of idolatry, and most frequent in the eastern countries. Shined - In its full strength and glory. Kissed - In token of worship, whereof this was a sign.
If I beheld the sun when it shined,....
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
But as yet it was practised secretly, and durst not appear in open view, as afterwards the most abominable idolatries did. How far Job kept from this sin. He not only never bowed the knee to Baal (which, some think, was designed to represent the sun), never fell down and worshipped the sun, but he kept his eye, his heart, and his lips, clean from this sin.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
If I beheld the sun when it shined - In this verse Job clears himself of that idolatrous worship which was the most ancient and most consistent with reason of any species of idolatry; viz., Sabaeism, the worship of the heavenly bodies; particularly the sun and moon, Jupiter and Venus, the two latter being the morning and evening stars, and the most resplendent of all the heavenly bodies, the sun and moon excepted. “Job,” says Calmet, “points out three things here:
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The Hebrew here for "sun" is light. Probably light was worshipped as the emanation from God, before its embodiments, the sun, &c. This worship prevailed in Chaldea; wherefore Job's exemption from the idolatry of his neighbors was the more exemplary.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
If I beheld the sun when it shined - Margin, light. The Hebrew word (אור 'ôr) properly means light, but that it here means the sun is manifest from the connection, since the moon occurs in the parallel member of the sentence. Why the word light is used here rather than sun, can be only a matter of conjecture. It may be because the worship to which Job refers was not primarily and originally that of the sun, the moon, or the stars, but of light as such, and that he mentions this as the essential feature of the idolatry which he had avoided. The worship of light in general soon became in fact the worship of the sun - as that is the principal source of light. There is no doubt that Job here refers to idolatrous worship, and the passage is particularly valuable, as it describes one of the forms of idolatry then existing, and refers to some of the customs then prevalent in such worship. The word light is used, also, to denote the sun in Job 37:2 l; compare Isa 18:4; Hab 3:4. So, also, Homer speaks of the sun not only as λαμπρὸν φάος ἡελίοιο lampron faos hēelioio - bright light of the sun, but simply as φάος faos - light. Odyssey r. 335. The worship here referred to is that of the heavenly bodies, and it is known that this existed in the early periods of the world, and was probably one of the first forms of idolatry. It is expressly mentioned by Ezekiel as prevailing in his time, Eze 8:16, “And they worshipped the sun toward the east.” That it prevailed in the time of Moses, is evident from the caution which he gives in Deu 4:19; compare 2Ki 23:5. […]
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| אֶרְאֶ֣ה | ʾereh | I saw | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| א֖וֹר | ʾor | a light | H216 → | 121 times |
| כִּ֣י | ki | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| יָהֵ֑ל | yahel | it shone | H1984 → | 165 times |
| וְ֝יָרֵ֗חַ | veyareach | and [the] moon | H3394 → | |
| יָקָ֥ר | yakar | splendid | H3368 → | |
| הֹלֵֽךְ׃ | holekh | [was] going | H1980 → | 1546 times |
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
אֶרְאֶ֣הI saw
ʾerehH7200 →1300 times
א֖וֹרa light
ʾorH216 →121 times
כִּ֣יthat
kiH3588 →4482 times
יָהֵ֑לit shone
yahelH1984 →165 times
וְ֝יָרֵ֗חַand [the] moon
veyareachH3394 →
יָקָ֥רsplendid
yakarH3368 →
הֹלֵֽךְ׃[was] going
holekhH1980 →1546 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
Ezekiel 8:16So He brought me to the inner court of the house of the LORD, and there at the entrance to the temple of the LORD, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 4:19
When you look to the heavens and see the sun and moon and stars—all the host of heaven—do not be enticed to bow down and worship what the LORD your God has apportioned to…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Deuteronomy 17:3
and going to worship other gods, bowing down to them or to the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven—which I have forbidden—
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 32:33
They have turned their backs to Me and not their faces. Though I taught them again and again, they would not listen or respond to discipline.
- Ezekiel 11:1
Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the gate of the house of the LORD that faces east. And there at the entrance of the gate were twenty-five men. Among them…
- Deuteronomy 4:19
Through
Deuteronomy 4:19When you look to the heavens and see the sun and moon and stars—all the host of heaven—do not be enticed to bow down and worship what the LORD your God has apportioned to…
it leads to
- Romans 1:25
They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is forever worthy of praise! Amen.
- 2 Kings 21:3
For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed, and he raised up altars for Baal. He made an Asherah pole, as King Ahab of Israel had done, and he worshiped…
- Genesis 1:16–18
God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. And He made the stars as well.
- Genesis 2:1
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
- Romans 1:25
Where this verse is studied
About Job
This page draws on 11 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); Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON JOB 31:26; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXII; 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); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.