Job 31:16

New Living Translation

"Have I refused to help the poor, or crushed the hopes of widows?

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
If I have refused the wishes of the pooror let the widow’s eyes go blind,

Hebrew Names Version
"If I have withheld the poor from their desire, Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

King James Version
If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;

English Standard Version
"If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

New Century Version
"I have never refused the appeals of the poor or let widows give up hope while looking for help.

New English Translation
If I have refused to give the poor what they desired, or caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

Amplified Bible
"If I have withheld from the poor what they desired, Or have caused the eyes of the widow to look in vain [for relief],

New American Standard Bible
"If I have kept the poor from their desire, Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

World English Bible
"If I have withheld the poor from their desire, Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

Geneva Bible (1587)
If I restrained the poore of their desire, or haue caused the eyes of the widow to faile,

Legacy Standard Bible
"If I have held back the poor from their desire,Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

Berean Standard Bible
If I have denied the desires of the poor or allowed the widow's eyes to fail,

Contemporary English Version
I have never cheated widows or others in need,

Complete Jewish Bible
"If I held back anything needed by the poor or made a widow's eye grow dim [with tears],

Darby Translation
If I have withheld the poor from [their] desire, or caused the eyes of the widow to fail;

Easy-to-Read Version
"I have never refused to help the poor. I always gave widows what they needed.

George Lamsa Translation
If I have withheld the poor from his desire, or have defrauded the widow,

Good News Translation
I have never refused to help the poor; never have I let widows live in despair

Lexham English Bible
"If I have withheld the desire of the poor from them, or I have caused the widow's eyes to fail,

Literal Translation
If I have withheld from the desire of the poor, or I have consumed the widow's eyes,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
When the poore desyred enythinge at me, haue I denyed it them? Haue I caused ye wyddowe stonde waytinge for me in vayne?

American Standard Version
If I have withheld the poor from their desire, Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

Bible in Basic English
If I kept back the desire of the poor; if the widow's eye was looking for help to no purpose;

JPS Old Testament (1917)
If I have withheld aught that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;

King James Version (1611)
If I haue withhelde the poore from their desire, or haue caused the eyes of the widow to faile:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
If I denied the poore of their desire, or haue caused the eyes of the wydow to wayte in vayne:

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
But the helpless missed not whatever need they had, and I did not cause the eye of the widow to fail.

English Revised Version
If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
If Y denyede to pore men that, that thei wolden, and if Y made the iyen of a wydewe to abide;

Update Bible Version
If I have withheld the poor from [their] desire, Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

Webster's Bible Translation
If I have withheld the poor from [their] desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;

New King James Version
"If I have kept the poor from their desire, Or caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

New Life Bible
"If I have kept what the poor should have or have caused the eyes of the woman whose husband has died to be tired,

New Revised Standard
"If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
If I withheld - from pleasure - the poor, or, the eyes of the widow, I dimmed;

Douay-Rheims Bible
If I have denied to the poor what they desired, and have made the eyes of the widow wait:

Revised Standard Version
"If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

Young's Literal Translation
If I withhold from pleasure the poor, And the eyes of the widow do consume,

THE MESSAGE
"Have I ignored the needs of the poor, turned my back on the indigent, Taken care of my own needs and fed my own face while they languished? Wasn't my home always open to them? Weren't they always welcome at my table?

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"If I have kept the poor from their desire, Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

Contextual Overview

¹⁶ "Have I refused to help the poor, or crushed the hopes of widows? ¹⁷ Have I been stingy with my food and refused to share it with orphans? ¹⁸ No, from childhood I have cared for orphans like a father, and all my life I have cared for widows. ¹⁹ Whenever I saw the homeless without clothes and the needy with nothing to wear, ²⁰ did they not praise me for providing wool clothing to keep them warm? ²¹ "If I raised my hand against an orphan, knowing the judges would take my side, ²² then let my shoulder be wrenched out of place! Let my arm be torn from its socket! ²³ That would be better than facing God's judgment. For if the majesty of God opposes me, what hope is there?

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

withheld: Job 22:7-9, Deuteronomy 15:7-10, Psalms 112:9, Luke 16:21, Acts 11:29, Galatians 2:10

the eyes: Deuteronomy 28:32, Psalms 69:3, Psalms 119:82, Psalms 119:123, Isaiah 38:14, Lamentations 4:17

Reciprocal: Leviticus 23:22 - General Deuteronomy 14:29 - the stranger Deuteronomy 24:13 - deliver Deuteronomy 24:19 - may bless Deuteronomy 26:13 - Levite Ruth 2:14 - At mealtime Nehemiah 8:10 - send Job 11:20 - the eyes Job 22:9 - widows Job 24:3 - drive Job 24:4 - turn Job 24:21 - doeth not Job 30:25 - was Psalms 37:21 - righteous Psalms 41:1 - Blessed Psalms 68:5 - A father Psalms 112:5 - showeth Proverbs 11:25 - liberal soul Proverbs 22:9 - He that hath a bountiful eye Proverbs 22:22 - oppress Proverbs 31:20 - she reacheth Isaiah 32:8 - the liberal Ezekiel 18:7 - hath given Matthew 5:7 - are Matthew 5:42 - General Matthew 6:2 - when Matthew 14:16 - they Matthew 23:14 - for ye Matthew 25:17 - he also Matthew 25:35 - I was an Luke 6:38 - and it Luke 14:13 - call Acts 6:1 - their Romans 12:8 - giveth 1 Timothy 5:3 - widows James 2:15 - General

Cross-References

Genesis 31:9
In this way, God has taken your father's animals and given them to me.

Psalms 45:10
Listen to me, O royal daughter; take to heart what I say. Forget your people and your family far away.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

If I have withheld the poor from [their] desire,.... Their reasonable desires, and which it was in his power to grant; as when they desired a piece of bread, being hungry, or clothes to cover them, being naked; but not unreasonable desires, seeking and asking great things for themselves, or unlimited and unbounded ones, such as the two sons of Zebedee desired of Christ, Mark 10:35;

or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; through long waiting for, and expecting help and succour from him, and at last disappointed. Job did not use the widow in such a manner as to give her reason to hope for relief or counsel from him she came for, and make her wait long, and then send her away empty, as he was charged, Job 22:9; but he soon dispatched her, by granting her what she sued to him for.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

If I have withheld the poor from their desire - Job now turns to another class of virtues, regarded also as of great importance in the patriarchal ages, kindness to the poor and the afflicted; to the fatherless and the widow. He appeals to his former life on this subject; affirms that he had a good conscience in the recollection of his dealings with them, and impliedly declares that it could not have been for any deficiency in the exercise of these virtues that his calamities had come upon him. The meaning here is, that he had not denied to the poor their wish. If they had come and desired bread of him, he had not withheld it; see Job 22:7.

Or caused the eyes of the widow to fail - That is, I have not frustrated her hopes, or disappointed her expectations, when she has looked intently upon me, and desired my aid. The “failing of the eyes” refers to failing of the object of their expectation; or the expression means that she had not looked to him in vain; see Job 11:20.