Job 29:12
in Job 29because I rescued the poor who cried out and the fatherless who had no helper.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Because I delivered the poor that cried, The fatherless also, that had none to help him.
KJV
Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.
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This verse in Job 29
Commentary
10 notes on this verseBecause I delivered the poor that cried - This appears to be intended as a refutation of the charges produced by Eliphaz, Job 22:5-10, to confute which Job appeals to facts, and to public testimony.
This site's exposition
those who heard me called me blessed
on Job 29:11-13
Two witnesses praise Job for rescuing “the poor who cried out and the fatherless who had no helper”. Henry notes that these are the very sufferers Eliphaz had accused Job of sending away empty in 22:9.
This site's exposition
I rescued the poor who cried
Barnes hears Job speaking as a magistrate. The poor man had no means to hire counsel, so Job heard his cause himself and freed him from the oppressor's grasp. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown set the line beside Psalm 72:12 and read the fatherless as those with none to help them.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
In order to explain why they proclaimed him to be blessed, he mentions his good works. "I have saved," he says, "the poor from the hand of the powerful," but it is after attributing to God the merit of protecting and watching him that "he is glorified in the Lord."
The Medieval Church2 voices
Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I comforted the widow's heart. [HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION] Great mercifulness these deeds are proofs of, to 'deliver the poor that crieth,' to minister aid to the 'fatherless,' to rescue one on the point to perish, to 'cheer the heart of the widow.' For above it was said what he put forth in respect of instruction.
This is because of the works of mercy which I was doing. He shows this first regarding the poor, and so he says, "because I freed," from the hand of the oppressor, "the poor man who cried out," who loudly complained. Second, as to orphans, …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Darkness - I passed safely through many difficulties, and dangers, and common calamities. Seat - When I caused the seat of justice to be set for me. By this, and several other expressions, it appears that Job was a magistrate.
Because I delivered the poor that cried,....
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The grounds on which Job was praised (Job 29:11), his helping the afflicted (Ps 72:12) who cried to him for help, as a judge, or as one possessed of means of charity. Translate: "The fatherless who had none to help him."
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Because I delivered the poor that cried - This is spoken of himself as a magistrate or judge - for the whole description relates to that. The meaning is, that when the poor man, who had no means of employing counsel, brought his cause before him, he heard him and delivered him from the grasp of the oppressor. He never made an appeal to him in vain; compare Pro 21:13; Pro 24:11-12. And the fatherless - The orphan who brought his cause before him. He became the patron and protector of those whose natural protectors - their parents - had been removed by death; compare the notes at Isa 1:17. And him that had none to help him - The poor man who had no powerful patron. Job says that, as a magistrate, he particularly regarded the cause of such persons, and saw that justice was done them - a beautiful image of the administration of justice in patriarchal times. This is the sense in which our translators understood this. But the parallelism seems rather to require that this should be applied to the fatherless who had no one to aid him, and the Hebrew, by understanding the ו (w) conjunctive as meaning “when,” will bear this construction. So it is understood by Rosenmuller, Umbreit, Herder, and Noyes.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
The blessing of the lost who died because of his iniquity and was banished.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אֲ֭מַלֵּט | ʾamalet | I rescued | H4422 → | 95 times |
| עָנִ֣י | ʾani | [the] afflicted | H6041 → | 73 times |
| מְשַׁוֵּ֑עַ | meshavea' | [who] cried for help | H7768 → | 21 times |
| וְ֝יָת֗וֹם | veyatom | and [the] fatherless | H3490 → | 42 times |
| וְֽלֹא־ | velo'- | and [the one whom] not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| עֹזֵ֥ר | ʾozer | a helper | H5826 → | 81 times |
| לֽוֹ׃ | lo | [belonged] to him |
כִּֽי־that
ki-H3588 →4482 times
אֲ֭מַלֵּטI rescued
ʾamaletH4422 →95 times
עָנִ֣י[the] afflicted
ʾaniH6041 →73 times
מְשַׁוֵּ֑עַ[who] cried for help
meshavea'H7768 →21 times
וְ֝יָת֗וֹםand [the] fatherless
veyatomH3490 →42 times
וְֽלֹא־and [the one whom] not
velo'-H3808 →5168 times
עֹזֵ֥רa helper
ʾozerH5826 →81 times
לֽוֹ׃[belonged] to him
lo
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
James 1:27Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
it leads to
- Isaiah 1:16–17
Wash and cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil!
- 1 John 3:17–19
If anyone with earthly possessions sees his brother in need, but withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God abide in him?
- Galatians 6:9–10
Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
- Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of…
- Matthew 25:34–46
Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
- Isaiah 1:16–17
Through
Psalms 72:12For he will deliver the needy who cry out and the afflicted who have no helper.
it leads to
- Revelation 3:17–18
You say, ‘I am rich; I have grown wealthy and need nothing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.
- Psalms 102:17
He will turn toward the prayer of the destitute; He will not despise their prayer.
- Ecclesiastes 4:1
Again I looked, and I considered all the oppression taking place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, and they had no comforter; the power lay in the hands of their…
- Revelation 3:17–18
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
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, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XIX; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON JOB 29:10-12; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.