Job 31:16–31:23, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Job 31:16–31:23
Job Denies Neglecting Poor, Widowed, and Orphaned People
The poor are named as people he actually fed
If he has withheld the poor from their desire, caused the widow's eyes to fail, eaten his morsel alone so that the fatherless did not eat of it—from youth the fatherless grew up with him as with a father, and he guided the widow from his mother's womb—if he has seen anyone perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering, if the loins of the poor have not blessed him because he was warmed with the fleece of Job's sheep, if he has lifted his hand against the fatherless when he saw his help in the gate: then let his arm fall from his shoulder blade and be broken from the bone.
Eliphaz had accused him of stripping the naked and crushing orphans. Job answers with food, wool, lifelong guidance, and a curse on his own arm if the charge is true.
Fear of God was fear of using power against the helpless
Destruction from God was a terror to him. By reason of God's highness he could not endure. The motive is not public relations. He feared what God would do to a man who used the gate against the fatherless.
Vulnerable people in this oath are not decorations for a rich man's memorial. They are the test of whether his honor at the gate was real.
How this should shape us
Measure a life by whether the hungry ate and the widow was guided, not by whether disaster can be given a spiritual caption. Do not make the poor a backdrop for your integrity story.
Teach it back
Explain Job 31:16–31:23 in your own words. Name the speaker, the unit's place in Job, one source-controlled textual or literary observation, one uncertainty, and one harmful use the passage does not authorize.
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Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Job 31:16–31:23, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Job.xml, OSIS 31:16–31:23
Supports: Verse-level controls for Job's difficult Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, textual issues, speech boundaries, and alternatives in Job 31:16–31:23.
Official NET Job PDF, exact translator, study, and textual notes attached to Job 31:16–31:23
Supports: Book-level and passage-level literary, historical, theological, and pastoral synthesis with speaker distinctions and visible uncertainty.
Enter the Bible Job course, Outline and Theological Themes: wisdom poem and Job's final defense; applied to Job 31:16–31:23
Supports: Polyphony, retribution critique, justice, Job's response, divine verdict, and the book's interpretive openness.
Ausloos, 'A Matter of Justice,' OTE 36.1 (2023), pp. 151-165, poetic dialogue, protest, retribution, and polyphony; applied to Job 31:16–31:23
Sources for This Section
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Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Job 31:16–31:23, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Job
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Job.xml, OSIS 31:16–31:23
Open the fixed Hebrew Job file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Job
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006; current official PDF
Supports: Verse-level controls for Job's difficult Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, textual issues, speech boundaries, and alternatives in Job 31:16–31:23.
Exact location: Official NET Job PDF, exact translator, study, and textual notes attached to Job 31:16–31:23
Open the official NET Job PDF ↗modern scholarly book course
Job course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, theological themes, and Bible in the world
Daniel J. Simundson and Kathryn Schifferdecker
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, current online edition inspected 2026
Supports: Book-level and passage-level literary, historical, theological, and pastoral synthesis with speaker distinctions and visible uncertainty.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Job course, Outline and Theological Themes: wisdom poem and Job's final defense; applied to Job 31:16–31:23
Open the Enter the Bible Job course ↗peer reviewed open access literary and theological article
A Matter of Justice: The Openness of the Book of Job
Hans Ausloos
Old Testament Essays 36.1, 2023
Supports: Polyphony, retribution critique, justice, Job's response, divine verdict, and the book's interpretive openness.
Exact location: Ausloos, 'A Matter of Justice,' OTE 36.1 (2023), pp. 151-165, poetic dialogue, protest, retribution, and polyphony; applied to Job 31:16–31:23
Open Ausloos on Job and justice ↗