Job 24:21
in Job 24They prey on the barren and childless, and show no kindness to the widow.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
He devoureth the barren that beareth not, And doeth not good to the widow.
KJV
He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.
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This verse in Job 24
Commentary
12 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
He evil entreateth the barren - The woman who has no children to comfort or support her. He increases her calamity by acts of cruelty and oppression. To be without children, as is well known, was regarded, in the patriarchal ages, as a great calamity. And doeth not good to the widow - See the notes at Job 24:3. Notwithstanding all this, he is permitted to live in prosperity, and to die without any visible tokens of the divine displeasure.
This site's exposition
They are but foam on the surface of the water
on Job 24:18-21
"As drought and heat consume the melting snow, so Sheol steals those who have sinned", the swift retribution the friends have preached. Readers divide over whether Job speaks this as his own concession that judgment is only delayed, or sets the friends' creed inside his speech.
This site's exposition
They prey on the barren and childless
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read verses 18 to 21 as the friends' doctrine, with this verse naming the wrong that earns the cursed portion. The barren and childless had no sons to guard them, and the widow no husband. Henry sets the childless beside the fatherless.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"He has not treated the barren woman well," that is, the woman who is without help because of her lack of children. And notice again how ill treatment is considered an act of impiety. "Keep away from evil," the divine psalmist says, "and practice good." …
The Medieval Church2 voices
Job shows why he is compared to the tree which is barren from two things. First because he has consumed his goods in useless things, and so he says, "For he feeds the barren woman who does not produce offspring and he has done no …
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XVII · Written before 604.
proposed
For he fed the barren and her that beareth not, and to the widow he did not do good. Who is it in this place that is denominated 'barren' saving the flesh, which while it goes after things present alone is not able to engender good thoughts? and who is styled 'a widow' but the soul, which same because the Maker was minded to unite to Himself, He came to the marriage chamber of the carnal womb, as the Psalmist testifies, who saith, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber?
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
), or those that are childless, and so want the arrows others have in their quiver, which enable them to deal with their enemy in the gate, Ps. cxxvii. They take that advantage against and are oppressive to them. As the fatherless, so the childless, are in some degree helpless.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
He - He here returns to the declaration of his farther wickednesses, the cause of these judgments. Barren - Barrenness was esteemed a curse and reproach; and so he added affliction to the afflicted.
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
He evil entreateth the barren, that beareth not,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The reason given by the friends why the sinner deserves such a fate. barren--without sons, who might have protected her. widow--without a husband to support her.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
In Job 24:22-24, he states his own observation as the opposite. You say, "The sinner is swift, that is, swiftly passes away (as a thing floating) on the surface of the waters" (Ec 11:1; Ho 10:7). is cursed--by those who witness their "swift" destruction. beholdeth not--"turneth not to"; figuratively, for He cannot enjoy his pleasant possessions (Job 20:17;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
He evil entreateth the barren - I believe the original word ולה should be translated he feedeth, and so the Vulgate understood the word: Pavit enim sterilem. He has been kind to the barren woman; but he has done no good to the widow. He has shown no mercy to large families; he has been an enemy to the procreation of children. Though he may, for particular reasons, have provided for a barren woman; yet the widow he has not comforted, she being old or infirm, or such as might not suit his purpose.
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| רֹעֶ֣ה | roeh | [he] feeds on | H7462 → | 177 times |
| עֲ֭קָרָה | ʾakarah | a barren [woman] | H6135 → | |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | [who] not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תֵלֵ֑ד | teled | she gives birth | H3205 → | 496 times |
| וְ֝אַלְמָנָ֗ה | vealmanah | and a widow | H490 → | 56 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יְיֵטִֽיב׃ | yeyetiv | he does good to | H3190 → |
רֹעֶ֣ה[he] feeds on
roehH7462 →177 times
עֲ֭קָרָהa barren [woman]
ʾakarahH6135 →
לֹ֣א[who] not
lo'H3808 →5168 times
תֵלֵ֑דshe gives birth
teledH3205 →496 times
וְ֝אַלְמָנָ֗הand a widow
vealmanahH490 →56 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
יְיֵטִֽיב׃he does good to
yeyetivH3190 →
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
Job 22:9You sent widows away empty-handed, and the strength of the fatherless was crushed.
it leads to
- Job 24:3
They drive away the donkey of the fatherless and take the widow’s ox in pledge.
- 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.
- Isaiah 10:2
to deprive the poor of fair treatment and withhold justice from the oppressed of My people, to make widows their prey and orphans their plunder.
- Job 24:3
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
Through
Job 29:13The dying man blessed me, and I made the widow’s heart sing for joy.
it leads to
- Job 22:9
You sent widows away empty-handed, and the strength of the fatherless was crushed.
- 2 Timothy 1:16–18
May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he has often refreshed me and was unashamed of my chains.
- Isaiah 27:13
And in that day a great ram’s horn will sound, and those who were perishing in Assyria will come forth with those who were exiles in Egypt. And they will worship the LORD on…
- Job 31:19–20
if I have seen one perish for lack of clothing, or a needy man without a cloak,
- Job 22:9
About Job
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on A. B. Davidson, The Book of Job, Cambridge Bible; Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XVII; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Olympiodorus of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON JOB 24:20-22 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.