Job 31:18

"or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it"

Key Reflection

In Job 31:18, Job emphasizes his fairness in sharing food, a practice that would have been deeply significant to his original audience. By stating he did not eat alone without allowing the fatherless (orphans) to share, Job underscores his commitment to justice and generosity, values highly esteemed in ancient Near Eastern societies where care for orphans was both ethical and a reflection of one's piety before God.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

For from my youth he was brought up with me -This verse is usually regarded as a parenthesis, though very various expositions have been given of it. Some have understood it as denying that he had in any way neglected the widow and the fatherless, and affirming that the orphan had always, even from his youth, found a father in him, and the widow a guide. Others, as our translators, suppose that it is a parenthesis thrown in to indicate his general course of life, although the imprecation which he makes on himself, if he had neglected the widow and the orphan, is found inJob 31:22.

More from Job 31

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