Job 24:9
in Job 24The fatherless infant is snatched from the breast; the nursing child of the poor is seized for a debt.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
There are that pluck the fatherless from the breast, And take a pledge of the poor;
KJV
They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.
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This verse in Job 24
Commentary
10 notes on this verseThey pluck the fatherless from the breast,.... Either on purpose to starve it, which must be extremely barbarous; or to sell it to be brought up a slave; or by obliging the mother to wean it before the due time, that she might be the better able to do work for them they obliged her to.
This site's exposition
The fatherless infant is snatched from the breast
on Job 24:9-12
The wrongs press further: "The fatherless infant is snatched from the breast". The line "yet God charges no one with wrongdoing" restates the problem of verse 1 in its starkest form. Barnes notes that this line is the hinge of the list, the evidence gathered to press that question.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"They have snatched the fatherless from the breast." They have lamentably and mercilessly taken away the child who still nursed and hanged from his mother's breast. "And they have deprived the outcast," that is, they have also deprived the outcast of his properties by taking …
The Medieval Church2 voices
They have done violence in preying on the fatherless, and have spoiled the common folk of the poor. When Heretics lack the good fortune of the present life, to weak minds they recommend by words of soft persuasion things that are wrong; but if the good fortune of the present time at all smiles upon them, they do not cease even by violence to draw those they are able.
He further increases their fault from the condition of miserable people whom they burden, and so he adds, "They show their power in robbing orphans," whom one should rather have supported, "and despoiled the poor crowd," whom they should rather have assisted.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
That secret sinners often pass undiscovered, ver. 13-18. That God punishes such by secret judgments, and reserves them for future judgment, ver. 19-25.
quarantine:anchor (2026-07-29) — cites-ver-19-anchored-1-12
Cruelty to the poor is great wickedness and cries aloud for vengeance. Those who show no mercy to such as lie at their mercy shall themselves have judgment without mercy.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
They pluck the fatherless from the breast - That is, they steal away unprotected children, and sell them, or make slaves of them for their own use. If this is the correct interpretation, then there existed at that time, what has existed since, so much to the disgrace of mankind, the custom of kidnapping children, and bearing them away to be sold as slaves. Slavery existed in early ages; and it must have been in some such way that slaves were procured.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
from the breast--of the widowed mother. Kidnapping children for slaves. Here Job passes from wrongs in the desert to those done among the habitations of men. pledge--namely, the garment of the poor debtor, as Job 24:10 shows.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
They pluck the fatherless from the breast - They forcibly take young children in order that they may bring them up in a state of slavery. This verse is the commencement of a new paragraph, and points out the arbitrary dealings of oppressors, under despotic governors. Take a pledge of the poor - Oppressive landlords who let out their grounds at an exorbitant rent, which the poor laborers, though using the utmost diligence, are unable at all times to pay; and then the unfeeling wretch sells then up, as the phrase here is, or takes their cow, their horse, their cart, or their bed, in pledge, that the money shall be paid in such a time. This is one of the crying sins of some countries of Europe.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יִ֭גְזְלוּ | yigzelu | people tear away | H1497 → | 30 times |
| מִשֹּׁ֣ד | mishod | from [the] breast | H7699 → | |
| יָת֑וֹם | yatom | a fatherless one | H3490 → | 42 times |
| וְֽעַל־ | veal- | and on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| עָנִ֥י | ʾani | [the] poor | H6041 → | 73 times |
| יַחְבֹּֽלוּ׃ | yachbolu | they take pledges | H2254 → | 27 times |
יִ֭גְזְלוּpeople tear away
yigzeluH1497 →30 times
מִשֹּׁ֣דfrom [the] breast
mishodH7699 →
יָת֑וֹםa fatherless one
yatomH3490 →42 times
וְֽעַל־and on
veal-H5921 →5755 times
עָנִ֥י[the] poor
ʾaniH6041 →73 times
יַחְבֹּֽלוּ׃they take pledges
yachboluH2254 →27 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
2 Kings 4:1Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. And now his creditor…
it leads to
- Matthew 18:25
Since the man was unable to pay, the master ordered that he be sold to pay his debt, along with his wife and children and everything he owned.
- 2 Kings 2:3
Then the sons of the prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and said, “Do you know that the LORD will take your master away from you today?” “Yes, I know,” he replied. “Do…
- Psalms 147:11
The LORD is pleased with those who fear Him, who hope in His loving devotion.
- Nehemiah 5:2–5
Some were saying, “We and our sons and daughters are numerous. We must get grain in order to eat and stay alive.”
- Leviticus 25:39–41
If a countryman among you becomes destitute and sells himself to you, then you must not force him into slave labor.
- Matthew 18:25
Through
Nehemiah 5:5We and our children are just like our countrymen and their children, yet we are subjecting our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters are already enslaved, but we are powerless to…
it leads to
- Leviticus 25:39–43
If a countryman among you becomes destitute and sells himself to you, then you must not force him into slave labor.
- 2 Kings 4:1
Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. And now his creditor…
- Genesis 37:27
Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him; for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And they agreed.
- Leviticus 25:39–43
About Job
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; 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; 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 24:9-12 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.