What did Job mean in saying that he had made a covenant with his eyes and so was not attentive to a virgin?

This verse, Job 31:1, reads: “A covenant I have concluded with my eyes. So how could I show myself attentive to a virgin?” Job meant that in his determination to keep integrity with God he had resolved to avoid even gazing lustfully at a woman other than his wife.


Job and his wife had had a number of children. Despite a difficult period when his wife of many years urged him to curse God and die, he was faithful to her. (Job 2:9, 10) There is no evidence that he ever departed from monogamy or even toyed with the prospect of indulging in sex with younger women, virgins.—Job 19:17.


Job recognized that immorality often starts by looking with lust on a person of the opposite sex, this creating a desire in the heart for immoral sex. So he made as if a formal contract or covenant with his own eyes. To what end? He firmly resolved not to look with passion at another woman. Naturally, he would see women in daily life and might even be attentive in helping such if they needed aid. But as regards being attentive with flirtatious or romantic motives, that was off limits. It was forbidden to him. Undoubtedly Job’s ‘covenant with his eyes’ helped him to avoid any passion-stimulating looking that could lead to immoral conduct.—Compare Job 31:9, 11; Matthew 5:28.