Job 31:16

16 "I haven't said no to what poor people have wanted. I haven't let widows lose their hope.

Job 31:16 Meaning and Commentary

Job 31:16

If I have withheld the poor from [their] desire
Their reasonable desires, and which it was in his power to grant; as when they desired a piece of bread, being hungry, or clothes to cover them, being naked; but not unreasonable desires, seeking and asking great things for themselves, or unlimited and unbounded ones, such as the two sons of Zebedee desired of Christ, ( Mark 10:35 ) ;

or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;
through long waiting for, and expecting help and succour from him, and at last disappointed. Job did not use the widow in such a manner as to give her reason to hope for relief or counsel from him she came for, and make her wait long, and then send her away empty, as he was charged, ( Job 22:9 ) ; but he soon dispatched her, by granting her what she sued to him for.

Job 31:16 In-Context

14 Then what will I do when God opposes me? What answer will I give him when he asks me to explain myself?

15 Didn't he who made me make my servants also? Didn't the same God form us inside our mothers?

16 "I haven't said no to what poor people have wanted. I haven't let widows lose their hope.

17 I haven't kept my bread to myself. I've shared it with children whose fathers had died.

18 From the time I was young, I've helped those widows. I've raised those children as a father would.