Job 31:17

17 or ate my portion of food by myself, without letting the orphan eat any of 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 Didn't he who made me in the womb make them too? Didn't the same one shape us both before our birth?

16 "If I held back anything needed by the poor or made a widow's eye grow dim [with tears],

17 or ate my portion of food by myself, without letting the orphan eat any of it

18 No! From my youth he grew up with me as if with a father, and I have been her guide from my mother's womb!

19 or if I saw a traveler needing clothing, someone in need who had no covering,