Job 31:16

16 si negavi quod volebant pauperibus et oculos viduae expectare feci

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.

Job 31:16 In-Context

14 quid enim faciam cum surrexerit ad iudicandum Deus et cum quaesierit quid respondebo illi

15 numquid non in utero fecit me qui et illum operatus est et formavit in vulva unus

16 si negavi quod volebant pauperibus et oculos viduae expectare feci

17 si comedi buccellam meam solus et non comedit pupillus ex ea

18 quia ab infantia mea crevit mecum miseratio et de utero matris meae egressa est mecum