Bible Strands
Job 31:34
because I greatly feared the crowds and the contempt of the clans terrified me, so that I kept silent and would not go outside—
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Job speaks in a formal self-justification, using conditional statements to demonstrate his moral integrity to his friends and to God.
The words — The conjunction כִּי (ki) functions causally to link the clause, while אֶעֱרֹץ ('e'erotz) translates literally as "I feared" and יְחִתֵּנִי (yechittenî) means "it caused me to be dismayed."
The thread — This dynamic appears in Proverbs 29:25 as a snare and is addressed in Exodus 23:2, which prohibits following a crowd to pervert justice.
Why it lands — The verse states that dread of public scorn once paralyzed Job’s speech, requiring the reader to assess whether human approval dictates moral action rather than divine command.
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
Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence, and went not out of the door?
Cross-references
- Exodus 23:2 You shall not follow the crowd in wrongdoing. When you testify in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd.
- Proverbs 29:25 The fear of man is a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is set securely on high.
- Exodus 32:27 He told them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each of you men is to fasten his sword to his side, go back and forth through the camp from gate to gate, and slay his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’”
- Numbers 25:14 The name of the Israelite who was slain with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, the leader of a Simeonite family.
- Nehemiah 5:7 and after serious thought I rebuked the nobles and officials, saying, “You are exacting usury from your own brothers!” So I called a large assembly against them
- Nehemiah 13:4 Now before this, Eliashib the priest, a relative of Tobiah, had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God
- Nehemiah 13:28 Even one of the sons of Jehoiada son of Eliashib the high priest had become a son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite. Therefore I drove him away from me.
- Esther 4:11 “All the royal officials and the people of the king’s provinces know that one law applies to every man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned—that he be put to death. Only if the king extends the gold scepter may that person live. But I have not been summoned to appear before the king for the past thirty days.”
- Esther 4:14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows if perhaps you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
- Job 22:8 while the land belonged to a mighty man, and a man of honor lived on it.