Passage

Job 31.1

Book: Job · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"1. I made a covenant with mine eyes; How then should I look upon a virgin?"

"2. For what is the portion from God above, And the heritage from the Almighty on high? 3. Is it not calamity to the unrighteous, And disaster to the workers of iniquity?" (Job 31:1-3, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"1. “I made a covenant with my eyes, how then should I look lustfully at a young woman?"

"2. For what is the portion from God above, and the heritage from the Almighty on high? 3. Is it not calamity to the unrighteous, and disaster to the workers of iniquity?" (Job 31:1-3, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"1. I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?"

"2. For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high? 3. Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?" (Job 31:1-3, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"1. A covenant I made for mine eyes, And what, do I attend to a virgin?"

"2. And what [is] the portion of God from above? And the inheritance of the Mighty from the heights? 3. Is not calamity to the perverse? And strangeness to workers of iniquity?" (Job 31:1-3, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: narrator + Job + friends + LORD (multi-voiced dialogue)
Audience: wisdom-tradition Israel
Location: land of Uz (Edomite region)
Time period: events possibly patriarchal-era; composed unclear, likely c. 1500-500 BC

Theological reading

Key words

H1285 - berith, berith (Strong's H1285). Also appears in: Genesis 6, Exodus 24.6-8, Numbers 25.
H1330 - bethulah, bethulah (Strong's H1330). Also appears in: Exodus 22.16, Exodus 22.17, Deuteronomy 22.

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.