Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, July 27th, 2025
the Week of Proper 12 / Ordinary 17
Attention!
StudyLight.org has pledged to help build churches in Uganda. Help us with that pledge and support pastors in the heart of Africa.
Click here to join the effort!

Read the Bible

Easy-to-Read Version

Job 24:21

These evil people hurt women who have no children to protect them, and they refuse to help widows.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Homicide;   Wicked (People);   Widow;   The Topic Concordance - Bearing Fruit;   Exaltation;   Rebellion;   Wickedness;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Widows;  

Dictionaries:

- Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Widow;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Host of Heaven;   Job;   Widow;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
They prey on the childless woman who is unable to conceive,and do not deal kindly with the widow.
Hebrew Names Version
He devours the barren who don't bear. He shows no kindness to the widow.
King James Version
He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.
English Standard Version
"They wrong the barren, childless woman, and do no good to the widow.
New Century Version
These evil people abuse women who cannot have children and show no kindness to widows.
New English Translation
He preys on the barren and childless woman, and does not treat the widow well.
Amplified Bible
"He preys on the barren (childless) woman And does no good for the widow.
New American Standard Bible
"He wrongs the infertile woman, And does no good for the widow.
World English Bible
He devours the barren who don't bear. He shows no kindness to the widow.
Geneva Bible (1587)
He doth euil intreat ye barren, that doeth not beare, neither doeth he good to the widowe.
Legacy Standard Bible
He feeds on the barren woman who does not give birthAnd does no good for the widow.
Berean Standard Bible
They prey on the barren and childless, and show no kindness to the widow.
Contemporary English Version
Sinners take advantage of widows and other helpless women.
Complete Jewish Bible
They devour childless women and give no help to widows.
Darby Translation
He that despoileth the barren that beareth not, and doeth not good to the widow:
George Lamsa Translation
An evil barren woman shall never bear; they do not good to the widow.
Good News Translation
That happens because they mistreated widows and showed no kindness to childless women.
Lexham English Bible
He feeds on the barren, who does not have a child, and does no good to the widow.
Literal Translation
He ill treats the barren that bear not, and does no good to the widow.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For they manteyne the baren, & make them yt they can not beare, & vnto wyddowes they do no good.
American Standard Version
He devoureth the barren that beareth not, And doeth not good to the widow.
Bible in Basic English
He is not kind to the widow, and he has no pity for her child.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
He devoureth the barren that beareth not; and doeth not good to the widow.
King James Version (1611)
He euill intreateth the barren, that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
He hath oppressed the barren that can not beare, and vnto the wydow hath he done no good.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
For he has not treated the barren woman well, and has had no pity on a feeble woman.
English Revised Version
He devoureth the barren that beareth not; and doeth not good to the widow.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For he fedde the bareyn, and hir that childith not, and he dide not wel to the widewe.
Update Bible Version
He devours the barren that does not bear, And does not do good to the widow.
Webster's Bible Translation
He oppresseth the barren [that] beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.
New King James Version
For he preys on the barren who do not bear, And does no good for the widow.
New Living Translation
They cheat the woman who has no son to help her. They refuse to help the needy widow.
New Life Bible
He does wrong to the woman who cannot give birth. And he does no good for the woman whose husband has died.
New Revised Standard
"They harm the childless woman, and do no good to the widow.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
He oppresseth the barren who beareth not, and, to the widow, he doeth not good;
Douay-Rheims Bible
For he hath fed the barren that beareth not, and to the widow he hath done no good.
Revised Standard Version
"They feed on the barren childless woman, and do no good to the widow.
Young's Literal Translation
Treating evil the barren [who] beareth not, And [to] the widow he doth no good,
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"He wrongs the barren woman And does no good for the widow.

Contextual Overview

18 " You say, ‘Evil people are taken away like things carried away in a flood. The land they own is cursed, so no one goes to work in their vineyards. 19 As hot, dry weather melts away the winter snows, so the grave takes away those who have sinned. 20 Their own mothers will forget them. Only the worms will want them. No one will remember them. They will be broken like a rotten stick! 21 These evil people hurt women who have no children to protect them, and they refuse to help widows. 22 By his power God removes the powerful. Even if they have a high position, they cannot be sure of their lives. 23 They might feel safe and secure, but God is watching how they live. 24 They might be successful for a while, but then they will be gone. Like everyone else, they will be cut down like grain.' 25 "I swear these things are true! Who can prove that I lied? Who can show that I am wrong?"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

evil: 1 Samuel 1:6, 1 Samuel 1:7

doeth not: Job 24:3, Job 29:13, Job 31:16-18

Reciprocal: Job 22:9 - widows Ecclesiastes 8:14 - there be just

Cross-References

Genesis 24:1
Abraham lived to be a very old man. The Lord blessed him and everything he did.
Genesis 24:6
Abraham said to him, "No, don't take my son to that place.
Genesis 24:7
The Lord , the God of heaven, brought me from my homeland to this place. That place was the home of my father and the home of my family, but he promised that this new land would belong to my family. May he send his angel before you so that you can choose a wife for my son.
Genesis 24:12
The servant said, " Lord , you are the God of my master Abraham. Please show your kindness to my master by helping me find a wife for his son Isaac.
Genesis 24:18
Rebekah quickly lowered the jar from her shoulder and gave him a drink. She said, "Drink this, sir."
Genesis 24:20
So Rebekah quickly poured all the water from her jar into the drinking trough for the camels. Then she ran to the well to get more water, and she gave water to all the camels.
Genesis 24:56
But the servant said to them, "Don't make me wait. The Lord has made my trip successful. Now let me go back to my master."
Psalms 107:1
Praise the Lord , because he is good! His faithful love will last forever!
Psalms 107:8
Thank the Lord for his faithful love and for the amazing things he does for people.
Psalms 107:15
Thank the Lord for his faithful love and for the amazing things he does for people.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

He evil entreateth the barren, [that] beareth not,.... Here Job returns, to give some further account of the sins of some wicked men, who prosper in this world, and go through it with impunity; and speaks of such that use their wives ill because they are barren, upbraid them with it, and are churlish to them on account of it; or use them ill that they may be barren, and bear no children, having no pleasure in them, as not in vineyards, before, Job 24:18; and some interpret this of deflowering virgins, who never bore children, and of using methods to make them abortive, when with child; the word we translate "evil entreateth" sometimes signifies joining to, or being a companion of others, as in Proverbs 13:20; hence various senses are given; some, he joins himself to a barren woman, that he may have no children, being not desirous of any; others, he, joins himself to, and is a companion of harlots, who are commonly barren: and like the prodigal, spends his substance among them. Some interpreters take this verse and

Job 24:22; as expressive of the punishment of wicked men: so Mr. Broughton renders the words, "he adjoineth the barren" d, and gives the sense of them thus; God sends after him a barren wife, that he shall have no help by children; but, though a numerous offspring has been reckoned an outward happiness, and not to have any an infelicity, yet it has been the case of many good men and women to be childless; wherefore love and hatred are not known hereby: besides, such a sense is contrary to the scope and design of Job, which is to prove that wicked men often go unpunished in this life; wherefore, rather the meaning is, that a wicked man uses ill such, who having not only lost their husbands, but having been barren, and so childless, have none to take their part, and to protect and defend them from the abuses of such men; the Targum renders the word, "he breaketh", and so some understand it e; he breaketh the barren, tears them to pieces, ruins and destroys them, as to their outward substance, because they have no children to help them; with which agrees what follows,

and doth not good to the widow; does not make her glad and cheerful, as Job did, who made the widow's heart to sing for joy, Job 29:13; does not relieve and assist her when in distress, either by counsel and advice, or by administering to her necessities; but, on the contrary, afflicts and oppresses her; takes her ox, or her raiment, for a pledge, and plunders her house, and devours the substance of it; for more is intended than is expressed.

d רעה עקרה "consociat ei sterilem", Junius & Tremellius. e Pagninus, Montanus, Bolducius, Piscator, Mercerus, Drusius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He evil entreateth the barren - The woman who has no children to comfort or support her. He increases her calamity by acts of cruelty and oppression. To be without children, as is well known, was regarded, in the patriarchal ages, as a great calamity.

And doeth not good to the widow - See the notes at Job 24:3. Notwithstanding all this, he is permitted to live in prosperity, and to die without any visible tokens of the divine displeasure.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 24:21. He evil entreateth the barren — I believe the original word ולה should be translated he feedeth, and so the Vulgate understood the word: Pavit enim sterilem. He has been kind to the barren woman; but he has done no good to the widow. He has shown no mercy to large families; he has been an enemy to the procreation of children. Though he may, for particular reasons, have provided for a barren woman; yet the widow he has not comforted, she being old or infirm, or such as might not suit his purpose.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile