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If[a] I have walked in falsehood,
and if[b] my foot has hastened[c] to deceit—
let him[d] weigh me with honest[e] scales;
then God will discover[f] my integrity.
If my footsteps have strayed from the way,
if my heart has gone after my eyes,[g]
or if anything[h] has defiled my hands,
then let me sow[i] and let another eat,
and let my crops[j] be uprooted.

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Footnotes

  1. 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.
  2. Job 31:5 tn The “if” is understood by the use of the consecutive verb.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.”
  7. Job 31:7 sn The meaning is “been led by what my eyes see.”
  8. Job 31:7 tc The word מֻאוּם (muʾum) could be taken in one of two ways. One reading is to represent מוּם (mum, “blemish,” see the Masorah); the other is for מְאוּמָה (meʾumah, “anything,” see the versions and the Kethib). Either reading fits the passage.
  9. Job 31:8 tn The cohortative is often found in the apodosis of the conditional clause (see GKC 320 §108.f).
  10. Job 31:8 tn The word means “what sprouts up” (from יָצָא [yatsaʾ] with the sense of “sprout forth”). It could refer metaphorically to children (and so Kissane and Pope), as well as in its literal sense of crops. The latter fits here perfectly.

“If I have (A)walked with worthlessness,
And my foot has hastened after deceit,
Let Him (B)weigh me with [a]just scales,
And let God know (C)my integrity.
If my step has (D)turned from the way,
Or my heart [b]followed my eyes,
Or if any (E)spot has stuck to my hands,
Let me (F)sow and another eat,
And let my [c](G)crops be uprooted.

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Footnotes

  1. Job 31:6 Lit righteous; Job 8:3, 6; 29:14
  2. Job 31:7 Lit walked after
  3. Job 31:8 Or offspring