Job 31:17

17 or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof

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 He that made me in the womb make him? And did not One fashion us in the womb?

16 "If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;

17 or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof

18 (for from my youth he was brought up with me as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb);

19 if I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;