Job 31:17

17 if I have eaten my few crumbs alone without letting the fatherless 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 Did not the One who made me in the womb also make them? Did not the same God form us both in the womb?

16 If I have refused the wishes of the poor or let the widow's eyes go blind,

17 if I have eaten my few crumbs alone without letting the fatherless eat any of it-

18 for from my youth, I raised him as [his] father, and since the day I was born I guided the widow-

19 if I have seen anyone dying for lack of clothing or a needy person without a cloak,