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Sunday, July 20th, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Read the Bible

Good News Translation

Job 24:21

That happens because they mistreated widows and showed no kindness to childless women.

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:
Easy-to-Read Version
These evil people hurt women who have no children to protect them, and they refuse to help widows.
George Lamsa Translation
An evil barren woman shall never bear; they do not good to the widow.
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

[Zophar]

The wicked are swept away by floods, and the land they own is under God's curse; they no longer go to work in their vineyards. 19 As snow vanishes in heat and drought, so sinners vanish from the land of the living. 20 Not even their mothers remember them now; they are eaten by worms and destroyed like fallen trees. 21 That happens because they mistreated widows and showed no kindness to childless women. 22 God, in his strength, destroys the mighty; God acts—and the wicked die. 23 God may let them live secure, but keeps an eye on them all the time. 24 For a while the wicked prosper, but then they wither like weeds, like stalks of grain that have been cut down. 25 Can anyone deny that this is so? Can anyone prove that my words are not true?

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 was now very old, and the Lord had blessed him in everything he did.
Genesis 24:6
Abraham answered, "Make sure that you don't send my son back there!
Genesis 24:7
The Lord , the God of heaven, brought me from the home of my father and from the land of my relatives, and he solemnly promised me that he would give this land to my descendants. He will send his angel before you, so that you can get a wife there for my son.
Genesis 24:12
He prayed, " Lord , God of my master Abraham, give me success today and keep your promise to my master.
Genesis 24:18
She said, "Drink, sir," and quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and held it while he drank.
Genesis 24:20
She quickly emptied her jar into the animals' drinking trough and ran to the well to get more water, until she had watered all his camels.
Genesis 24:56
But he said, "Don't make us stay. The Lord has made my journey a success; let me go back to my master."
Psalms 107:1
"Give thanks to the Lord , because he is good; his love is eternal!"
Psalms 107:8
They must thank the Lord for his constant love, for the wonderful things he did for them.
Psalms 107:15
They must thank the Lord for his constant love, for the wonderful things he did for them.

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.


 
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