Job 6:27
in Job 6You would even cast lots for an orphan and barter away your friend.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Yea, ye would cast lots upon the fatherless, And make merchandise of your friend.
KJV
Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and ye dig a pit for your friend.
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This verse in Job 6
Commentary
11 notes on this verseYea ye overwhelm the fatherless, and ye strive to overthrow your friend. For he shews what great weakness he considers himself to be of, who calls himself 'fatherless.' But because charity even when wounded cannot quit love, he at once complains that they would have him overthrown, and yet witnesses that he is their friend. Whose words, as we have often said already, in such wise specially apply to himself, that yet by them, in the Spirit of Prophecy, we have at the same time set forth the sentiment of the faithful People, in the voice of the Church Universal.
This site's exposition
Teach me, and I will be silent
on Job 6:24-27
Job invites correction, "Teach me, and I will be silent," and asks to be shown "how I have erred". "How painful are honest words" grants that true words carry force. They would "cast lots for an orphan and barter away your friend," turning comfort into harm.
This site's exposition
You would even cast lots for an orphan
Job says his friends would gamble over an orphan and barter away a friend. Barnes reads the orphan as Job himself. The verb for barter returns at Job 41:6, where it can mean to feast on a prey.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"You would even attack the orphan," that is, me, for I am deprived of any human assistance. And since God is "the Father of the orphans," you make him angry by offending me. "And you would trample your friend underfoot" with your words. You trample …
The Medieval Church1 voice
The fourth is when someone censures someone in that time and in a state when it can be pursued he will become better and not worse as a result. But if someone wants to censure another when he is perplexed in soul and is disposed …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me. 5 Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? or loweth the ox over his fodder? 6 Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless,....
Thus, when our hearts are hot within us, what is ill done we are apt to misrepresent as if done designedly. That, though he had let fall some passionate expressions, yet in the main he was in the right, and that his afflictions, though very extraordinary, did not prove him to be a hypocrite or a wicked man. His righteousness he holds fast, and will not let it go.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
UMBREIT from the Syriac, and answering to his interpretation of the first clause, has, "Would you be indignant against your friend?" The Hebrew in Job 41:6, means to "feast upon." As the first clause asks, "Would you catch him in a net?" so this follows up the image, "And would you next feast upon him, and his miseries?" So the Septuagint.
Ye overwhelm the fatherless - Ye see that I am as destitute as the most miserable orphan; would ye overwhelm such a one? and would you dig a pit for your friend - do ye lay wait for me, and endeavor to entangle me in my talk? I believe this to be the spirit of Job’s words.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless - Job undoubtedly means that this should be applied to himself. He complains that they took advantage of his words, that they were disposed to pervert his meaning, and unkindly distorted what he said. The word rendered” fatherless” יתום yâthôm properly denotes an orphan; Exo 22:22; Deu 10:18; Deu 14:29. But it is possible that it is not to be taken in this limited signification here.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַף־ | ʾaf- | even | H637 → | 134 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| יָת֥וֹם | yatom | a fatherless one | H3490 → | 42 times |
| תַּפִּ֑ילוּ | tapilu | you will make fall | H5307 → | 435 times |
| וְ֝תִכְר֗וּ | vetikhru | and you may bargain | H3739 → | |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| רֵֽיעֲכֶֽם׃ | reiakhem | friend your | H7453 → | 188 times |
אַף־even
ʾaf-H637 →134 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
יָת֥וֹםa fatherless one
yatomH3490 →42 times
תַּפִּ֑ילוּyou will make fall
tapiluH5307 →435 times
וְ֝תִכְר֗וּand you may bargain
vetikhruH3739 →
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
רֵֽיעֲכֶֽם׃friend your
reiakhemH7453 →188 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
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 7:15He has dug a hole and hollowed it out; he has fallen into a pit of his own making.
it leads to
- Job 4:8
As I have observed, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble reap the same.
- Psalms 141:10
Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by in safety.
- Proverbs 26:27
He who digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him.
- Job 4:8
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; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book VIII; Hesychius of Jerusalem, HOMILIES ON JOB 9.6.27; 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 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.