Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 31:11

For this [is] a heinous crime; yea, it [is] an iniquity [to be punished by] the judges.

11. a heinous crime ] Or, an enormity, Hos 6:9 marg.; cf. Lev 18:17. Adultery was a capital crime in Israel, Deu 22:22; Joh 8:5.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

For this is an heinous crime – This expresses Jobs sense of the enormity of such an offence. He felt that there was no palliation for it; he would in no way, and on no pretence, attempt to vindicate it.

An iniquity to be punished by the judges – A crime for the judges to determine on and decide. The sins which Job had specified before this, were those of the heart; but here he refers to a crime against society – an offence which deserved the interposition of the magistrate. It may be observed here, that adultery has always been regarded as a sin to be punished by the judges. In most countries it has been punished with death; see the notes at Joh 8:5.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 11. For this is a heinous crime] Mr. Good translates,

“For this would be a premeditated crime,

And a profligacy of the understanding.”

See also Job 31:28.

That is, It would not only be a sin against the individuals more particularly concerned, but a sin of the first magnitude against society; and one of which the civil magistrate should take particular cognizance, and punish as justice requires.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

To wit, adultery, whether committed by choice and design, or by the solicitation of the woman, Job 31:9. Heb. an iniquity of the judges, i.e. which belongs to them to take cognizance of, and to punish, and that with death; and that not only by the law of Moses, Deu 22:22, but even by the law of nature, as appears from the known laws and customs of heathen nations in that case. See also Gen 38:24. This is opposed to those secret and lesser sins, which are only known to and punished by God.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

11. In the earliest timespunished with death (Ge 38:24).So in later times (De 22:22).Heretofore he had spoken only of sins against conscience; now, oneagainst the community, needing the cognizance of the judge.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

For this [is] an heinous crime,…. Adultery; it is contrary to the light of nature, and is condemned by it as a great sin,

Ge 20:9; as well as contrary to the express will and law of God, Ex 20:14; and, though all sin is a transgression of the law of God, and deserving of death; yet there are some sins greater and more heinous than others, being attended with aggravating circumstances; and such is this sin, it is a breach of the marriage contract and covenant between man and wife; it is doing injury to a man’s property, and to that which is the nearest and dearest to him, and is what introduces confusion into families, kingdoms, and states; and therefore it follows:

yea, it [is] an iniquity [to he punished by] the judges; who might take cognizance of it, examine into it, and pass sentence for it, and execute it; and, if they neglect do their duty, God, the Judge of all the earth, will punish for it in the world to come, unless repented of: “for whoremongers and adulterers God will judge”, Heb 13:4; the punishment of adultery was death by the law of God, and that by stoning, as appears from Le 20:10; and it is remarkable, that the Heathens, who were ignorant of this law, enjoined the same punishment for it; so Homer e introduces Hector reproving Paris for this sin, and suggests to him, that if he had his deserved punishment, he would have been clothed with a “stone coat”, as he beautifully expresses it; which Suidas f explains, by being overwhelmed with stones, or stoned; as Eustathius g.

e Iliad. 3. v. 57. f In voce . g In Homer. ibid.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

11. A heinous crime , the usual Thorah word for the shameless, subtle encroachments of sensual desires. (Delitzsch.) The various stages of meaning through which this word has passed first, of thought or intent; second, of (supposed) cunning; third, of lewdness, (of the mind;) fourth, of heinous deed, Lev 18:17, (adultery, incest,) paint in brief the descent and degradation of vice.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Job 31:11 For this [is] an heinous crime; yea, it [is] an iniquity [to be punished by] the judges.

Ver. 11. For this is an heinous crime ] Hoc enim grande flagitium est, so the Tigurines translate; for this is a wickedness with a witness, though counted by some a light offence, a peccadillo. The Popish priests, deeply guilty of it themselves, seldom cried out against it in their sermons; this the great ones, and others, observed; and, therefore, ran into it, as if it had been a venial sin, if any sin at all. But we have not so learned Christ; and there was once found an English bishop (Adelm, elect bishop of Sherborn, A.D. 705) who boldly and sharply reproved Pope Sergius to his face for this foul sin (Godwin. Catal. p. 333). Joseph calleth it a great wickedness, Gen 39:9 , because a breach of the bond of loyalty, which cannot but be treachery; as also because it destroys society and the purity of posterity, stealing sometimes an heir into the estate.

Yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges ] Since it is a theft of that which is most precious and most peculiar to the owner; as Joseph told his mistress, Gen 39:9 ; the suspicion or jealousy of it raiseth the rage of a man to such a height that it will not be allayed without revenge, Pro 6:34-35 . Some render it, iniquitas iudicata, an iniquity already adjudged capital. The Hebrew hath it, an iniquity of the judges; that is, that which judges should severely punish. Before the law Tamar was to have been burnt for it, Gen 38:24 , as under the law the high priest’s daughter, Lev 21:9 . Ahab and Zedekiah were roasted in the fire for this offence by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Jer 29:22-23 . Some think that these two were the elders that assaulted Susanna. The Egyptians cut off the harlot’s nose, and the adulterer’s members. Ezekiel, Eze 23:25 , alludeth to this custom. The Locrians pulled out their eyes. The Julian law, among the Romans, adjudged them to die; and Jerome saith this law was yet in force in his time; but the poet complaineth that, for want of due execution, it lay dormant, Lex Iulia dormit; as many other good laws do by the baseness and partiality of the judges, such as were those Athenian judges, who, having before them Phryne, that notable strumpet, were about to pass sentence of death upon her; but when her advocate, Hyperides, had opened her bosom, and showed them her beautiful breasts to move them to mercy, they acquitted her, and let her go (Plutarch, Vit. 10; Rhetor. in Hyper.). In like sort also they dealt with the dame of Smyrna, whom they appointed to appear some hundred years after. How much better the old Saxons, who, while they were yet heathens, made a law, and saw it well executed, that the adulteress should be first strangled, and then burnt in a bonfire, over which the adulterer was to be hanged in chains, and burnt to death by degrees? And of another heathen people we read, that they put the adulterers’ and adulteresses’ heads into the paunch of a beast, where all the filth lieth, and so stifled them to death.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

crime. Hebrew zimmah. App-44.

iniquity. Hebrew. ‘avah.

iniquity to be punished by the judges = a judicial iniquity; or, an iniquity in the eye of the law.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

an heinous: Gen 20:9, Gen 26:10, Gen 39:9, Exo 20:14, Pro 6:29-33

an iniquity: Job 31:28, Gen 38:24, Lev 20:10, Deu 22:22-24, Eze 16:38

Reciprocal: Isa 9:18 – wickedness

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Job 31:11-12. For this is a heinous crime Namely, adultery, whether committed by choice and design, or by the solicitation of a woman; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished, &c. Hebrew, an iniquity of the judges; which it belongs to them to take cognizance of, and to punish, even with death; and that not only by the law of Moses, but even by the law of nature, as appears from the known laws and customs of the heathen nations. For it is a fire that consumeth, &c. Lust is a fire in the soul; it consumes all that is good there, convictions of sin, desires after God, devout affections, pious resolutions, holy comforts, and lays the conscience waste. The sin of adultery, or fornication, consumes the body, the reputation, the substance, rooting out all the increase: it kindles the fire of Gods wrath, which, if not quenched by the blood of Christ, in consequence of repentance and faith in him, will burn to the lowest hell.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments