to do or make · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular
God
אֵ֑ל'El
H410
strength · noun, common masculine singular absolute
up
יָק֣וּםya.Kum
H6965
to rise (in various applications · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
visiteth
יִ֝פְקֹ֗דyif.Kod
H6485
to visit (with friendly or hostile intent) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
answer
אֲשִׁיבֶֽנּוּ'a.shi.Ve.nu
H7725
to turn back (hence · verb, hiphil imperfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
James 2:13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
Psalms 9:12 When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: he forgetteth not the cry of the humble.
Psalms 9:19 Arise, O LORD; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight.
Psalms 10:12-15 Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble.
Psalms 44:21 Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
Zechariah 2:13 Be silent, O all flesh, before the LORD: for he is raised up out of his holy habitation.
Romans 3:19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the worl…
Job 9:32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 31:9-15
Two more instances we have here of Job's integrity: -
I. That he had a very great abhorrence of the sin of adultery. As he did not wrong his own marriage bed by keeping a concubine (he did not so much as think upon a maid, v. 1), so he was careful not to offer any injury to his neighbour's marriage bed. Let us see here, 1. How clear he was from this sin, Job 31:9. (1.) He did not so much as covet his neighbour's wife; for even his heart was not deceived by a woman. The beauty of another man's wife did not kindle in him any unchaste desires, nor was he ever moved by the allurements of an adulterous woman, such as is described, Pro 7:6, etc. See the original of all the defilements of the life…
Parenthetical; the reason why Job did not despise the cause of his servants. Translate: What then (had I done so) could I have done, when God arose (to call me to account); and when He visited (came to enquire), what could I have answered Him?
John Gill on Job 31:14
What then shall I do when God riseth up?.... That is, if he had despised and rejected the cause of his servants, or had neglected, or refused to do them justice; he signifies he should be at the utmost loss to know what to do, what excuse to make, or what to say in his own defence, when God should rise up to defend the cause of the injured; either in a way of Providence in this life, or at the great day of judgment in the world to come, when everything will be brought to account, and masters and servants must stand alike before the judgment seat of God, to receive for the things they have done, whether good or evil:
and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him? when he makes a visitation a…
13 If I despised the cause of my servant and my maid,
When they contended with me:
14 What should I do, if God should rise up,
And if He should make search, what should I answer Him?
15 Hath not He who formed me in the womb formed him also,
And hath not One fashioned us in the belly?
It might happen, as Job 31:13 assumes, that his servant or his maid (אמה, Arab. amatun, denotes a maid who is not necessarily a slave, ‛abde, as Job 19:15, whereas שׁפחה does not occur in the book) contended with him, and in fact so that they on their part began the dispute (for, as the Talmud correctly points out, it is not בּריבי עמּם, but בּריבם עמּדי), but he did not then treat them as a despot; they were no…
The Church Fathers
"If he comes to visit me, what shall I answer him? In the tribulation that my conscience will tell me, since I have despised these warnings?
For what shall I do, when God riseth up to judge; and when He seeketh, what shall I answer Him? He who thinks on the Judge to come, is unceasingly day by day preparing the cases of his accounts for the better: he who views the Eternal Lord with trembling of heart, is forced to abate the rights of temporal lordship over those under him. For he considers well that it is nothing that he is set above others in time, when for the rendering account he is beneath Him, Who exercises dominion without end. For oftentimes transitory power hurries away the soul along the sleeps of self-exaltation. And because every one is lifted up in the degree that he sees that he is himself above any persons, it is needful that he ever have regard to Him, Who is above himself, that by the fear of Him, Who is above all things, he may keep down the growing inflation of mind within. For he knows who they are beneath himself, but let him consider under Whom he himself is, that by the considering of the true Lord, the swelling of counterfeit lordship may die off. Hence blessed Job, because he feared the Judgment of Him, Who is above all things, here comes to temporal judgment the equal of servants, saying, If I despised to submit to judgment with my man-servant or with my maid-servant, when they contended with me. For what shall I do, when God riseth up to judge? and when He seeketh, what shall I answer Him? Which same, that he might always keep down the heart in humility, never in these servants sees that the condition is unlike to himself, but that the nature is common...
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Contempt · Sin of — Sin of
Employer · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Injustice · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Integrity · 16:19,20; — 16:19,20;
Judgment · THE GENERAL — THE GENERAL
Man · EQUALITY OF — EQUALITY OF
Master · SCRIPTURES RELATING TO MASTERS OF SERVANTS — SCRIPTURES RELATING TO MASTERS OF SERVANTS
Respect Of Persons · God does not have — God does not have
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
unfair to . . . servants: This might refer to violations of the fourth commandment (Deut 5:12-15). • God created both me and my servants: Job extended the implications of being created in God’s image to the poor (Prov 14:31; 22:2) and even to slaves.
Rashi on Job 31:14
then what will I do etc. I took this to heart, and when He visits, what will I answer Him?
