Job 31:17

17 or let orphans go hungry while I ate.

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 The same God who created me created my servants also.

16 I have never refused to help the poor; never have I let widows live in despair

17 or let orphans go hungry while I ate.

18 All my life I have taken care of them.

19 When I found someone in need, too poor to buy clothes,