Job 31:28
in Job 31this would also be an iniquity to be judged, for I would have denied God on high.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judges; For I should have denied the God that is above.
KJV
This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.
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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.
This site's exposition
I would have denied God on high
Barnes links an iniquity to be judged back to Job 31:11. Among the Hebrews, he adds, idolatry was punished by stoning, at Deuteronomy 17:2 to 7. Clarke says worship of the sun and moon would deny the God who made them.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church3 voices
Which is the chiefest iniquity, and denial against the Most High God. For it is clear that he does deny Him, when setting at nought His grace, he claims to himself the powers of good practice. Which too is rightly called as well 'the chiefest iniquity' because every act of sin which is from infirmity destroyeth not hope, seeing that it asks forgiveness from the Judge Above. But presuming on our own goodness is so much the worse in desperateness, the further it is removed from humility.
He shows why he avoided this saying, "this is the greatest evil." For if it is evil to offer what is due to one man to another, it seems the greatest evil that the cult due to God is offered to a creature. Since it …
"My mouth has kissed my hand" … is said in analogy with those who have the habit to bring their hands [to their mouth] and to kiss [them] when they meet people who are dear to them.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge,....
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.
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Idolatry debauches men's minds, corrupts their manners, takes off the true sense of religion which is the great bond of societies, and provokes God to give men up to a reprobate sense, and to send judgments upon a nation; and therefore the conservators of the public peace are concerned to restrain it by punishing it.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
For I should have denied the God that is above - Had I paid Divine adoration to them, I should have thereby denied the God that made them.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judqe - Note Job 31:11. Among the Hebrews idolatry was an offence punishable by death by stoning; Deu 17:2-7. It is possible, also, that this might have been elsewhere in the patriarchal times a crime punishable in this manner. At all events, Job regarded it as a heinous offence, and one of which the magistrate ought to take cognizance. For I should have denied the God that is above - The worship of the heavenly bodies would have been in fact the denial of the existence of any Superior Being. This, in fact, always occurs, for idolaters have no knowledge of the true God.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| גַּם־ | gam- | also | H1571 → | 769 times |
| ה֭וּא | hu' | that | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| עָוֹ֣ן | ʾavon | [is] iniquity | H5771 → | 233 times |
| פְּלִילִ֑י | pelili | calling for judgment | H6416 → | |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| כִחַ֖שְׁתִּי | khichashti | I denied | H3584 → | |
| לָאֵ֣ל | lael | <to> <the> God | H410 → | 241 times |
| מִמָּֽעַל׃ | mimaal | <from> above | H4605 → | 140 times |
גַּם־also
gam-H1571 →769 times
ה֭וּאthat
hu'H1931 →1879 times
עָוֹ֣ן[is] iniquity
ʾavonH5771 →233 times
פְּלִילִ֑יcalling for judgment
peliliH6416 →
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
כִחַ֖שְׁתִּיI denied
khichashtiH3584 →
לָאֵ֣ל<to> <the> God
laelH410 →241 times
מִמָּֽעַל׃<from> above
mimaalH4605 →140 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
Psalms 50:6And the heavens proclaim His righteousness, for God Himself is Judge. Selah
it leads to
- Psalms 97:6
The heavens proclaim His righteousness; all the peoples see His glory.
- Psalms 89:5
The heavens praise Your wonders, O LORD— Your faithfulness as well— in the assembly of the holy ones.
- Psalms 75:7
but it is God who judges; He brings down one and exalts another.
- Psalms 97:6
Through
Genesis 18:25Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the…
it leads to
- Job 8:20
Behold, God does not reject the blameless, nor will He strengthen the hand of evildoers.
- Isaiah 3:10–11
Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their labor.
- Job 8:3
Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?
- Psalms 58:11
Then men will say, “There is surely a reward for the righteous! There is surely a God who judges the earth!”
- Job 8:20
Through
Job 31:11For that would be a heinous crime, an iniquity to be judged.
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 XXII; Ishodad of Merv, COMMENTARY ON JOB 31:27; 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.