Job 31:21
in Job 31if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless because I saw that I had support in the gate,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, Because I saw my help in the gate:
KJV
If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:
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This verse in Job 31
Commentary
8 notes on this verseIf I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, even when I saw myself uppermost in the gate. It was the custom with those of old that the elders should sit at the gate to make out by judicial trial the quarrels of persons at strife, in order that the city, in which it was befitting that they should dwell in concord, they should never enter at variance. And hence the Lord saith by the Prophet, Establish judgment in the gate.
This site's exposition
lifted up my hand against the fatherless
on Job 31:21-23
The oath names the temptation of a powerful man at the gate of 29:7. The curse “then may my arm fall from my shoulder” fits the fault. “For calamity from God terrifies me” names the fear, which Henry reads as the root of his ethics, reverence for God before reputation.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Another impediment to mercy is the confidence one has in one's own power. This seems to make a man think he can harm others and especially people beneath him with impunity, and he excludes this from himself saying, "If I have raised my hand against …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless,....
Those that have it in their power to do a wrong thing and go through with it, and a prospect of getting by it, and yet do justly, and love mercy, and are firm to both, may afterwards reflect upon their conduct with much comfort, as Job does here.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless - That is, if I have taken advantage of my rank, influence, and power, to oppress and injure him. When I saw my help in the gate - The gate of a city was a place of concourse; a place where debates were held, and where justice was administered. Job speaks here of that part of his life when he was clothed with authority as a magistrate, or when he had power and influence as a public man.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
when--that is, "because." I saw--that I might calculate on the "help" of a powerful party in the court of justice--("gate"), if I should be summoned by the injured fatherless.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless - I have at no time opposed the orphan, nor given, in behalf of the rich and powerful, a decision against the poor, when I saw my help in the gate - when I was sitting chief on the throne of judgment, and could have done it without being called to account. There are sentiments very like these in the poem of Lebeid, one of the authors of the Moallakhat. I shall quote several verses from the elegant translation of Sir William Jones, in which the character of a charitable and bountiful chief is well described: - “Oft have I invited a numerous company to the death of a camel bought for slaughter, to be divided with arrows of equal dimensions.” “I invite them to draw lots for a camel without a foal, and for a camel with her young one, whose flesh I distribute to all the neighbors.” “The guest and the stranger admitted to my board seem to have alighted in the sweet vale of Tebaala, luxuriant with vernal blossoms.” “The cords of my tent approaches every needy matron, worn with fatigue, like a camel doomed to die at her master’s tomb, whose venture is both scanty and ragged.” “There they crown with meat (while the wintry winds contend with fierce blasts) a dish flowing like a rivulet, into which the famished orphans eagerly plunge.” “He distributes equal shares, he dispenses justice to the tribes, he is indignant when their right is diminished; and, to establish their right, often relinquishes his own.” “He acts with greatness of mind, and nobleness of heart: he sheds the dew of his liberality on those who need his assistance; he scatters around his own gains and precious spoils, the prizes of his valor.” - Ver. 73-80.
The words behind it
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| הֲנִיפ֣וֹתִי | hanifoti | I brandished | H5130 → | |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| יָת֣וֹם | yatom | a fatherless one | H3490 → | 42 times |
| יָדִ֑י | yadi | hand my | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אֶרְאֶ֥ה | ʾereh | I saw | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| בַ֝שַּׁ֗עַר | vashaar | in the gate | H8179 → | 374 times |
| עֶזְרָתִֽי׃ | ʾezrati | help my | H5833 → |
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
הֲנִיפ֣וֹתִיI brandished
hanifotiH5130 →
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
יָת֣וֹםa fatherless one
yatomH3490 →42 times
יָדִ֑יhand my
yadiH3027 →1618 times
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
אֶרְאֶ֥הI saw
ʾerehH7200 →1300 times
בַ֝שַּׁ֗עַרin the gate
vashaarH8179 →374 times
עֶזְרָתִֽי׃help my
ʾezratiH5833 →
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
Jeremiah 5:28They have grown fat and sleek, and have excelled in the deeds of the wicked. They have not taken up the cause of the fatherless, that they might prosper; nor have they defended the…
it leads to
- Isaiah 1:23
Your rulers are rebels, friends of thieves. They all love bribes and chasing after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, and the plea of the widow never comes before them.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Deuteronomy 32:15
But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—becoming fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.
- Isaiah 1:23
Through
Micah 7:3Both hands are skilled at evil; the prince and the judge demand a bribe. When the powerful utters his evil desire, they all conspire together.
it leads to
- Micah 3:11
Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets practice divination for money. Yet they lean upon the LORD, saying, “Is not the LORD among us? No disaster…
- Proverbs 4:16–17
For they cannot sleep unless they do evil; they are deprived of slumber until they make someone fall.
- Micah 3:11
Through
Job 29:12because I rescued the poor who cried out and the fatherless who had no helper.
it leads to
- Psalms 72:12
For he will deliver the needy who cry out and the afflicted who have no helper.
- Proverbs 21:13
Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too shall cry out and receive no answer.
- Psalms 72:12
Through
Ezekiel 22:7Father and mother are treated with contempt. Within your walls the foreign resident is exploited, the fatherless and the widow are oppressed.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 27:16
‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or mother.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
- Exodus 22:21–22
You must not exploit or oppress a foreign resident, for you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
- Deuteronomy 27:16
Where this verse is studied
About Job
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 XXI; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.