Job 22:9
in Job 22You sent widows away empty-handed, and the strength of the fatherless was crushed.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thou hast sent widows away empty, And the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
KJV
Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
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This verse in Job 22
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Thou hast sent widows away empty - That is, without regarding their needs, and without doing anything to mitigate their sorrows. The oppression of the widow and the fatherless is, in the Scriptures, every where regarded as a crime of special magnitude; see the notes at Isa 1:17. The arms of the fatherless have been broken - Thou hast taken away all that they relied on. Thou hast oppressed them and taken advantage of their weak and defenseless condition to enrich yourself. This charge was evidently gratuitous and unjust.
This site's exposition
the land belonged to a mighty man
on Job 22:8-9
The indictment continues with the powerful man who holds the land. Job later describes himself as the opponent of this figure at 29:15 and 16. Clarke reads the charges as a stock picture of the oppressor drawn from the wisdom tradition and attached to Job without ground in his conduct.
This site's exposition
You sent widows away empty-handed
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read empty-handed as sent away with needs unmet, and note that the law of Moses guarded the widow and the fatherless. Clarke reads the crushed strength as whatever the fatherless had, taken from them. Eliphaz charges cruelty to the weak.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless hast thou broken. The common multitudes that are brought under to heretics on their preaching by a carnal understanding conceive the corrupt seeds of their false doctrine, and are joined to them in their condemnation.
He treats third of evil judgments, since he did not render justice to weak persons, and so he then says, "You sent widows away empty handed," since you did not do justice for them against their adversaries, as Isaiah says, "The cause of the widows …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Thou hast sent widows away empty,....
He does not say, "Thou has broken them," but he would have it understood so, and if they be broken, and those who have power do not relieve them, they are chargeable with it.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
empty--without their wants being relieved (Ge 31:42). The Mosaic law especially protected the widow and fatherless (Ex 22:22); the violation of it in their case by the great is a complaint of the prophets (Isa 1:17). arms--supports, helps, on which one leans (Ho 7:15).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
The arms of the fatherless - Whatever strength or power or property they had, of that thou hast deprived them. Thou hast been hard-hearted and cruel, and hast enriched thyself with the spoils of the poor and the defenceless.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַ֭לְמָנוֹת | ʾalmanot | widows | H490 → | 56 times |
| שִׁלַּ֣חְתָּ | shilachta | you have sent away | H7971 → | 845 times |
| רֵיקָ֑ם | reikam | with empty hands | H7387 → | |
| וּזְרֹע֖וֹת | uzeroot | and [the] arms of | H2220 → | 91 times |
| יְתֹמִ֣ים | yetomim | fatherless ones | H3490 → | 42 times |
| יְדֻכָּֽא׃ | yeduka' | it has been crushed | H1792 → | 18 times |
אַ֭לְמָנוֹתwidows
ʾalmanotH490 →56 times
שִׁלַּ֣חְתָּyou have sent away
shilachtaH7971 →845 times
רֵיקָ֑םwith empty hands
reikamH7387 →
וּזְרֹע֖וֹתand [the] arms of
uzerootH2220 →91 times
יְתֹמִ֣יםfatherless ones
yetomimH3490 →42 times
יְדֻכָּֽא׃it has been crushed
yeduka'H1792 →18 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Isaiah 10:2to deprive the poor of fair treatment and withhold justice from the oppressed of My people, to make widows their prey and orphans their plunder.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 22:7
Father and mother are treated with contempt. Within your walls the foreign resident is exploited, the fatherless and the widow are oppressed.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Malachi 3:5
“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud…
- Isaiah 3:14
The LORD brings this charge against the elders and leaders of His people: “You have devoured the vineyard; the plunder of the poor is in your houses.
- Ezekiel 22:7
Through
Ezekiel 22:7Father and mother are treated with contempt. Within your walls the foreign resident is exploited, the fatherless and the widow are oppressed.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 27:16
‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or mother.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
- Exodus 22:21–22
You must not exploit or oppress a foreign resident, for you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
- Leviticus 20:9
If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. He has cursed his father or mother; his blood shall be upon him.
- Zechariah 7:10
Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. And do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’
- Deuteronomy 27:16
Through
Job 24:3They drive away the donkey of the fatherless and take the widow’s ox in pledge.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 24:6
Do not take a pair of millstones or even an upper millstone as security for a debt, because that would be taking one’s livelihood as security.
- Deuteronomy 24:6
About Job
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XVI; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.