to see · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
ways
דְרָכָ֑יde.ra.Khai
H1870
a road (as trodden) · noun, common both genders plural construct + pronominal suffix
count
יִסְפּֽוֹרyis.Por
H5608
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
steps
צְעָדַ֥יtze.'a.Dai
H6806
a pace or regular step · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
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
Job 34:21 For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings.
2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towa…
Proverbs 5:21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.
Job 14:16 For now thou numberest my steps: dost thou not watch over my sin?
Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.
Jeremiah 32:19 Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways,…
Jeremiah 16:17 For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.
Psalms 139:1-3 O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 31:1-8
The lusts of the flesh, and the love of the world, are the two fatal rocks on which multitudes split; against these Job protests he was always careful to stand upon his guard.
I. Against the lusts of the flesh. He not only kept himself clear from adultery, from defiling his neighbour's wives (Job 31:9), but from all lewdness with any women whatsoever. He kept no concubine, no mistress, but was inviolably faithful to the marriage bed, though his wife was none of the wisest, best, or kindest. From the beginning it was so, that a man should have but one wife and cleave to her only; and Job kept closely to that institution and abhorred the thought of transgressing it; for, though his greatness m…
Doth not he see? &c.--Knowing this, I could only have expected "destruction" (Job 31:3), had I committed this sin (Pro 5:21).
John Gill on Job 31:4
Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps? That is, God, who is above, and the Almighty that dwells on high; he looks down from heaven, and beholds all the ways and works, the steps and motions, of the children of men; there is no darkness where the workers of iniquity can hide themselves; the fornicator and adulterer choose the night season for the commission of their sin, fancying no eye sees them; but they cannot escape the eye of God, who is omniscient; he observes the ways they walk in, the methods they take to compass their designs; he marks and counts every step taken by them, as he does indeed take notice of and reckons up every action of men, good and bad; and the consideratio…
1 I have made a covenant with mine eyes,
And how should I fix my gaze upon a maiden!
2 What then would be the dispensation of Eloah from above,
And the inheritance of the Almighty from the heights -
3 Doth not calamity overtake the wicked,
And misfortune the workers of evil?
4 Doth He not see my ways
And count all my steps?
After Job has described and bewailed the harsh contrast between the former days and the present, he gives us a picture of his moral life and endeavour, in connection with the character of which the explanation of his present affliction as a divinely decreed punishment becomes impossible, and the sudden overthrow of his prosperity into this abyss of suffering becomes to h…
The Church Fathers
Doth not He see my ways, and count all my steps? What does he tell of by the title of 'ways' but ways of acting? Thus it is hence said by Jeremiah; Make your ways and your doings good. But what do we understand by the name of 'steps,' but either the motions of men's minds or the advancements of merits? By which 'steps' indeed Truth calls us to Itself, saying, Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden. For the Lord bids us 'come to Him' not surely by the steps of the body, but by the advances of the heart. For he Himself says, The hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. And a little after, the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father also seeketh such to worship Him. Thus he implies that the steps are in the heart, when He both bids us that we should come, and yet declares that it is not at all by the motion of the body that we pass to other things. Now the Lord so 'views the ways' of each one, and so 'counts all his steps,' that by His Judgment not even the minutest thoughts or the very slightest words, which have become insignificant in our eyes from use, remain unexamined into. Thus hence He says, Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. 'Raca' in the Hebrew speech is a word of interjection, which indeed shews the temper of one who is angry, but does not give forth a full word of anger. Thus anger without utterance is first blamed, then anger with utterance, but not yet shaped by a complete word, and at last also when it is said, Thou fool, anger is reproved, which, along with excess of the voice, is fulfilled by the perfecting of speech as well. And it is to be noted that He tells that by anger he is 'in danger of the judgment;' by a voice of anger, which is 'Raca,' 'in danger of the council,' and by a word of the voice, which is 'Thou fool,' in danger of hell fire. For by the steps of offence, the order of the sentence increased, because in 'the judgment' the case is still under examination, but in the council the sentence of the case is now determining, while 'in the fire of hell' the sentence, which proceeds from the council, is fulfilled. And therefore…
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
Integrity · 16:19,20; — 16:19,20;
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).
Job called down curses on himself if he were guilty of the accusations made against him. Except for his mention of idolatry (31:26-27), Job addressed his fidelity to God in terms of the second half of the Ten Commandments, summarized by the command to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev 19:18; Rom 13:9).
31:1 Job’s covenant with his eyes included a self-cursing oath (cp. Matt 5:28-29). Perhaps lust of the eyes was at the head of Job’s list because the eye is the first instrument of sin (Gen 3:6). • To look with lust at a young woman violates the spirit of the seventh (Deut 5:18, see Matt 5:27-28), and potentially the tenth (Deut 5:21), commandment.
Rashi on Job 31:4
and count all my steps and see whether I went with falsehood.
