What Does Job 31:7 Mean in the King James?
If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands;
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse traces one chain: the eyes lead the heart, and the hands show where that gaze has taken it.
THE MEANING
Your steps can leave the way, your heart can follow what your eyes fix on, and a blemish can cling to your hands. The verse reaches beneath visible conduct to the gaze that guides the heart.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
If nothing harmful visibly clings to your hands, your heart has stayed on the way.
THE ROOT
עֵינַי
ʿênay
GROWS FROM
עין
Eye; the same word family also names a spring or fountain.
“mine eyes” in this verse is ʿênay. The verse says the heart walks after the eyes, and this word family also names a spring. That does not make “spring” a second meaning here; it hints that the gaze is a source from which direction begins.
ALSO GROWS
ʿayin: Eye; also a spring or fountain.
עַיִן
The shared word links the eye with a source, fitting the verse’s picture of the gaze directing the heart.
maʿyan: Spring or fountain.
מַעְיָן
This related word makes the source connection visible: what the eye takes in can set the heart’s direction.
דָּבַק
dāvaq
GROWS FROM
דבק
To cling, adhere, or hold fast.
“hath cleaved” in this verse is dāvaq. The blemish does not merely touch the hands; the verb says it clings to them. The same root describes close attachment elsewhere, so the verse gives the stain the force of something held fast.
ALSO GROWS
dāvaq: To cling or cleave.
דָּבַק
The verb also describes clinging closely to God in Deuteronomy 10:20, showing how firmly something can adhere.
vedavaq: And shall cleave; the form used in Genesis 2:24 for a man cleaving to his wife.
וְדָבַק
The same verb can describe enduring attachment; here it names the way a blemish sticks to the hands.
THE PATTERN
What the eyes hold before the heart can direct the steps and leave its mark on the hands.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.THE THREAD
Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way.Both verses join the eyes to the way: the same Hebrew word for eyes appears in each, as does the word for way. Job traces what happens when the heart follows the eyes; this verse links turning the gaze away from emptiness with renewed movement in the way.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us