Job 31:4-6
New English Translation
4 Does he not see my ways
and count all my steps?
5 If[a] I have walked in falsehood,
and if[b] my foot has hastened[c] to deceit—
6 let him[d] weigh me with honest[e] scales;
then God will discover[f] my integrity.
Footnotes
- Job 31:5 tn The normal approach is to take this as the protasis, and then have it resumed in v. 7 after a parenthesis in v. 6. But some take v. 6 as the apodosis and a new protasis in v. 7.
- Job 31:5 tn The “if” is understood by the use of the consecutive verb.
- Job 31:5 sn The verbs “walk” and “hasten” (referring in the verse to the foot) are used metaphorically for the manner of life Job lived.
- Job 31:6 tn “God” is undoubtedly the understood subject of this jussive. However, “him” is retained in the translation at this point to avoid redundancy since “God” occurs in the second half of the verse.
- Job 31:6 tn The word צֶדֶךְ (tsedeq, “righteousness”) forms a fitting genitive for the scales used in trade or justice. The “scales of righteousness” are scales that conform to the standard (see the illustration in Deut 25:13-15). They must be honest scales to make just decisions.
- Job 31:6 tn The verb is וְיֵדַע (veyedaʿ, “and [then] he [God] will know”). The verb could also be subordinated to the preceding jussive, “so that God may know.” The meaning of “to know” here has more the idea of “to come to know; to discover.”
Job 31:4-6
King James Version
4 Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?
5 If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit;
6 Let me be weighed in an even balance that God may know mine integrity.
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