Job 31:21

or if it were true that I threatened to strike any orphan because I knew that the elders at the city gates would ◄decide in my favor►;

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:

In Context

20and they were not able to become warm from clothes made from the wool of my sheep with the result that they thanked me for giving them clothes,

22if those things were true about me, I hope/desire that my shoulder blade would be torn out and my arm be torn from my shoulder.

Read all of Job 31

Cross References

Job 22:9When widows came to you for help, you must have sent them away without giving them anything, and you must have oppressed orphans.

Job 29:12because I had helped the poor people when they cried out for help and I aided/helped orphans who had no one else to help them.

Proverbs 23:10Do not steal someone’s property by removing a boundary marker that has been there for a long time, and do not take for yourself the land that belongs to orphans,

Ezekiel 22:7Your people do not respect/honor their parents; they have oppressed foreigners; they mistreat orphans and widows.

Micah 7:3They all use both hands to do what is evil. Government officials and judges all ask for bribes. Important people tell others what they want, and they plot/scheme together about how to get it done.

Matthew Henry on Job 31:17-24

Job's Compassion to the Poor. ( b. c. 1520.) 16 If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; 17 Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof; 18 (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;) 19 If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering; 20 If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; 21 If I… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Job 31:21