Job 29:16
in Job 29I was a father to the needy, and I took up the case of the stranger.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I was a father to the needy: And the cause of him that I knew not I searched out.
KJV
I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.
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This verse in Job 29
Commentary
13 notes on this verseI was a father of the poor, and the cause, which I knew not, I searched out. [HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION] For very often men give much to the poor, not because they love those poor, but because if they do not give, they dread the indignation of the Judge Above; which persons, if they were not afraid of God, would have had no mind to give the things they possess.
This site's exposition
put on righteousness
on Job 29:14-17
Job says “I put on righteousness, and it clothed me”, an image Gill notes Isaiah gives to salvation at Isaiah 61:10. Delitzsch reads “I shattered the fangs of the unjust and snatched the prey from his teeth” as a shepherd's language, justice pictured as rescue.
This site's exposition
a father to the needy
This line answers Job 22:9, where Eliphaz charged Job with harming the fatherless. Job was a father to the needy. He took up the case of the stranger, one he did not know, and Henry says he heard both sides before judgment.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
I was an eye to the blind, and a foot was I to the lame. I was a father to the poor, and the cause which I knew not I searched out. [HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION] Herein the mind of the reader might perchance put the question, wherefore it is that blessed Job reckons up his own virtue with so much particularity. For it is a mark of holy men to conceal the good things they may have done, lest it chance that they bring upon themselves the downfall of exaltation.
He also cared for those who were defenseless, and so he says, "I was a father to the poor," for I protected and supported them. Sometimes there are those who wound the poor, the powerless, and the simple calumniously by fraud. He shows a diligent …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 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.
): The cause which I knew not I searched out. He diligently enquired into the matters of fact, patiently and impartially heard both sides, set every thing in its true light, and cleared it from false colours; he laid all circumstances together, that he might find out the truth and the merits of every cause, and then, and not until then, gave judgment upon it.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
I was a father to the poor,....
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
(4.) The widows that were sighing for grief, and trembling for fear, he made to sing for joy, so carefully did he protect them and provide for them, and so heartily did he espouse their interest. It is a pleasure to a good man, and should be so to a great man, to give those occasion to rejoice that are most acquainted with grief.
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
The cause which I knew not I searched out - When any thing difficult occurred, I did not give it a slight consideration; I examined it to the bottom, whatever pain, time, and trouble it cost me, that I might not pronounce a hasty judgment.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
So far was I from "breaking the arms of the fatherless," as Eliphaz asserts (Job 22:9), I was a "father" to such. the cause which I knew not--rather, "of him whom I knew not," the stranger (Pr 29:7 [UMBREIT]; contrast Lu 18:1, &c.).
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
I was a father to the poor - I took them under my protection, and treated them as if they were my own children. And the cause which I knew not I searched out - This is according to the interpretation of Jerome. But the more probable meaning is, “the cause of him who was unknown to me, that is, of the stranger, I searched out.” So Rosenmuller, Herder, Umbreit, and Good. According to this, the sense is, that, as a magistrate, he gave particular attention to the cause of the stranger, and investigated it with care. It is possible that Job here designs specifically to reply to the charge brought against him by Eliphaz in Job 22:6 ff. The duty of showing particular attention to the stranger is often inculcated in the Bible, and was regarded as essential to a character of uprightness and piety among the Orientals.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אָ֣ב | ʾav | [was] a father | H1 → | 1212 times |
| אָ֭נֹכִֽי | ʾanokhi | I | H595 → | 359 times |
| לָֽאֶבְיוֹנִ֑ים | laevyonim | to the needy [people] | H34 → | 61 times |
| וְרִ֖ב | veriv | and a case at law of | H7379 → | 61 times |
| לֹא־ | lo'- | [the one whom] not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יָדַ֣עְתִּי | yada'ti | I knew | H3045 → | 945 times |
| אֶחְקְרֵֽהוּ׃ | ʾechkerehu | I investigated it | H2713 → | 27 times |
אָ֣ב[was] a father
ʾavH1 →1212 times
אָ֭נֹכִֽיI
ʾanokhiH595 →359 times
לָֽאֶבְיוֹנִ֑יםto the needy [people]
laevyonimH34 →61 times
וְרִ֖בand a case at law of
verivH7379 →61 times
לֹא־[the one whom] not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
יָדַ֣עְתִּיI knew
yada'tiH3045 →945 times
אֶחְקְרֵֽהוּ׃I investigated it
ʾechkerehuH2713 →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
Proverbs 25:2It is the glory of God to conceal a matter and the glory of kings to search it out.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 29:29
The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, so that we may follow all the words of this law.
- Romans 11:33–34
O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!
- Job 11:7–8
Can you fathom the deep things of God or discover the limits of the Almighty?
- Deuteronomy 29:29
Through
Psalms 68:5A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in His holy habitation.
it leads to
- Psalms 10:14
But You have regarded trouble and grief; You see to repay it by Your hand. The victim entrusts himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless.
- Jeremiah 49:11
Abandon your orphans; I will preserve their lives. Let your widows trust in Me.”
- Psalms 82:3–4
Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; uphold the rights of the afflicted and oppressed.
- Deuteronomy 10:18
He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and He loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing.
- Psalms 146:9
The LORD protects foreigners; He sustains the fatherless and the widow, but the ways of the wicked He frustrates.
- Psalms 10:14
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); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XIX; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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.