Job 31:17
if I have eaten my morsel alone, not sharing it with the fatherless—
BSB
ASV
Or have eaten my morsel alone, And the fatherless hath not eaten thereof
KJV
Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;
Or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof. That is to say, reckoning that he prejudiced his pitifulness, if he ate alone what the Lord of all created in common. Which same fellowship of intercourse should be carried on within the domestic walls with those persons, by whom the rewards of eternal retribution may be promoted. Whence the holy man describes himself as having had not any indifferent person, but, for eating, the 'fatherless' as his companions.
Or have eaten my morsel myself alone - If I have not imparted what I had though ever so small, to others. This was in accordance with the Oriental laws of hospitality. It is regarded as a fixed law among the Arabians, that the guest shall always be helped first, and to that which is best; and no matter how needy the family may be, or how much distressed with hunger, the settled laws of hospitality demand that the stranger-guest shall have the first and best portion.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The walk8
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
Deuteronomy 15:11For there will never cease to be poor in the land; that is why I am commanding you to open wide your hand to your brother and to the poor and needy in your…
leads to
The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have Me.
The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them whenever you want. But you will not always have Me.
The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have Me.”
Instead, you are to open your hand to him and freely loan him whatever he needs.
By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
Through
Luke 11:41But give as alms the things that are within you, and you will see that everything is clean for you.
leads to
Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide yourselves with purses that will not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.
To the pure, all things are pure; but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. Indeed, both their minds and their consciences are defiled.
Pure 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.