Job 31:16

16 "If I have kept ¹the poor from their desire, Or have caused the eyes of ²the widow to fail,

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.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Job 31:16 In-Context

14 What then could I do when God arises? And when He calls me to account, what will I answer Him?

15 "Did not He who made me in the womb make him, And the same one fashion us in the womb?

16 "If I have kept the poor from their desire, Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

17 Or have eaten my morsel alone, And the orphan has not shared it

18 (But from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, And from infancy I guided her),

Cross References 2

1. Job 5:16; Job 20:19
2. Exodus 22:22-24; Job 22:9

Job 31:16

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Job 31:16 Meaning and Commentary

Job 31:16 In-Context

Cross References 2