Job 31:17

17 or I have eaten my morsel {alone}, and [the] orphan has not eaten from it

Job 31:17 Meaning and Commentary

Job 31:17

Or have eaten my morsel myself alone
Though he had kept no doubt a plentiful table in the time of his prosperity suitable to his circumstances, yet had been no luxurious person, and therefore calls provisions a "morsel"; however, be it what it would, more or less, he did not eat it alone; what he had for himself the poor had a share of it with him, and the same he ate himself he gave to them:

and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof:
meaning the poor fatherless: for as to the rich fatherless, it was no charity to feed them: this verse contradicts the charge exhibited against him, ( Job 22:7 ) .

Job 31:17 In-Context

15 Did not he [who] made me in the womb make them? And did not one fashion us in the womb?
16 "If I have withheld [the] desire of [the] poor from [them], or I have caused [the] widow's eyes to fail,
17 or I have eaten my morsel {alone}, and [the] orphan has not eaten from it
18 (for from my childhood he {grew up with} me like a father, and from my mother's womb I guided her),
19 if I have seen [the one who] perishes because of no clothing or [that] there is no covering for the poor,

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Literally "to alone me"
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.