Bible Strands
Job 31:1
“I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze with desire at a virgin?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Job addresses God directly, in the oath of innocence (Job 31), vowing to name every category of sin he has avoided.
The words — בְּרִית (bĕrît) is the same word used for God's covenants with Abraham and Israel; Job applies it to a personal commitment governing his own gaze.
The thread — Matthew 5:28 equates the lustful look with adultery in the heart; James 1:14 traces temptation to one's own desire; Psalm 119:37 prays for eyes turned away from worthless things.
Why it lands — It treats a single involuntary glance as serious enough to warrant a sworn oath, demanding that a reader take the smallest act of desire as a matter of binding commitment rather than harmless thought.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?
Cross-references
- James 1:14 But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed.
- Matthew 5:28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
- Psalms 119:37 Turn my eyes away from worthless things; revive me with Your word.
- 1 John 2:16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world.
- Proverbs 6:25 Do not lust in your heart for her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes.
- 2 Samuel 11:2 One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing—a very beautiful woman.
- Proverbs 4:25 Let your eyes look forward; fix your gaze straight ahead.
- Genesis 6:2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they took as wives whomever they chose.
- Proverbs 23:31 Do not gaze at wine while it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.