Job 31:34
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? 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?
Job 31:34 belongs to Job's defense of his integrity against charges of sin. In that defense he challenges his friends and invites judgment if any moral blot is found in his character. In the verse he denies that fear of a great multitude or contempt of families made him keep silent and stay indoors, hiding any wrongdoing out of fear. His moral courage in facing scorn rather than hiding is a strength of his perfection and patience.
The chapter containing the verse makes Job's protestation of integrity a stronger proof of what makes a man honest than merely paying debts and owing no one. Freedom from liability to others does not by itself make a man honest. His example calls believers to bear the world's contempt bravely and gladly.