Verse Lens · Context pointer
Job 31:21 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 21. 21If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
Job 31:21 advances the thought unit with the words “If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate.” Job states “If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate” as one poetic claim in Job Denies Neglecting Poor, Widowed, and Orphaned People.
Read It With
- Job 31:16–31:23
Read Job 31:21 with 31:16–31:23. Read alone, “If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate” could lose its speaker, the question or claim it develops, and the unit's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Job says he did not withhold desire, food, clothing, or advocacy and feared divine accountability for using power against the fatherless.
Why It Needs Context
Job 31:21 depends on 31:16–31:23; isolating “If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate” would detach a poetic premise, image, response, or transition from Job and “Job Denies Neglecting Poor, Widowed, and Orphaned People.”
Read Job 31:16–23 together
Why these verses belong together: Job 31:16–31:23 follows the pinned KJV paragraphing and holds together one sustained speech movement: “Job Denies Neglecting Poor, Widowed, and Orphaned People.” The next unit begins with a new stanza, question sequence, scene, speaker response, or rhetorical turn.
Verse 16. 16 If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;
Verse 17. 17 Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;
Verse 18. 18 (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother’s womb;)
Verse 19. 19 If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;
Verse 20. 20 If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
Verse 21. 21 If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:
Verse 22. 22 Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.
Verse 23. 23 For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Job 31:16–31:23 — Job Denies Neglecting Poor, Widowed, and Orphaned PeopleSources used for this context pointer
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
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 ↗