Bible Strands
Job 31:9
If my heart has been enticed by my neighbor’s wife, or I have lurked at his door,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Job speaks this self-imprecation to God as part of his formal oath of innocence. He stands at the conclusion of his chapter-long defense, listing specific moral violations he refuses to commit.
The words — The Hebrew נִפְתָּה (nif'tah) literally means "it has been opened" or "enticed," paired with the preposition עַל ('al) meaning "on" or "at." Job uses these terms to describe his heart being drawn toward a neighbor's wife and his physical presence at her doorway.
The thread — This pattern of external enticement compromising a man's devotion appears in 1 Kings 11:4, where wives turn Solomon's heart after other gods. Judges 16:5 and Ecclesiastes 7:26 similarly frame women as snares or lures that threaten a man's strength and spiritual focus.
Why it lands — The text demands a reader examine whether their desires are actively pursuing what belongs to another. It requires concrete accountability for internal thoughts and physical actions rather than abstract moral claims.
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
If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour’s door;
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 11:4 For when Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the LORD his God, as his father David had been.
- Judges 16:5 The lords of the Philistines went to her and said, “Entice him and find out the source of his great strength and how we can overpower him to tie him up and subdue him. Then each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.”
- Ecclesiastes 7:26 And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a snare, whose heart is a net, and whose hands are chains. The man who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is ensnared.
- Nehemiah 13:26 Did not King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations, and he was loved by his God, who made him king over all Israel—yet foreign women drew him into sin.
- Job 24:15 The eye of the adulterer watches for twilight. Thinking, ‘No eye will see me,’ he covers his face.
- Proverbs 2:16 It will rescue you from the forbidden woman, from the stranger with seductive words
- Proverbs 6:25 Do not lust in your heart for her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes.
- Proverbs 22:14 The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit; he who is under the wrath of the LORD will fall into it.
- Jeremiah 5:8 They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing after his neighbor’s wife.
- Hosea 7:4 They are all adulterers, like an oven heated by a baker who needs not stoke the fire from the kneading to the rising of the dough.