“You have given the weary no water to drink, And you have withheld bread from the hungry.
Parallel translations
- WEB You haven’t given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
- KJV Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.
- BSB You gave no water to the weary and withheld food from the famished,
- NKJV You have not given the weary water to drink, And you have withheld bread from the hungry.
- NLT You must have refused water for the thirsty and food for the hungry.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Eliphaz accuses Job of denying water to the weary and bread to the hungry. He charges Job with cruel neglect of the needy.
Overview
Eliphaz lists failures of basic mercy, ironically the very deeds Job insists he faithfully performed (Job 31:17, 31:31-32). Hospitality and care for the needy were sacred duties. The false accusation highlights the cruelty of Eliphaz's approach. Scripture, by contrast, commends caring for the hungry and thirsty as service to God Himself (Matt 25:35).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Job 31:17or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it
- Matt 25:42for I was hungry, and you didn’t give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink;
- Isa 58:7Isn’t it to distribute your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you not hide yourself from your own flesh?
- Ezek 18:16neither has wronged any, has not taken anything to pledge, neither has taken by robbery, but has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment;
- Ezek 18:7and has not wronged any, but has restored to the debtor his pledge, has taken nothing by robbery, has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment;
- Prov 19:17He who has pity on the poor lends to Yahweh; he will reward him.
- Isa 58:10and if you pour out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul: then your light will rise in darkness, and your obscurity will be as the noonday;
- Job 31:31if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who can find one who has not been filled with his meat?’
- Prov 11:24–25There is one who scatters, and increases yet more. There is one who withholds more than is appropriate, but gains poverty.
- Ps 112:9He has dispersed, he has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. His horn will be exalted with honor.
- Rom 12:20Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing so, you will heap coals of fire on his head.”
- Deut 15:7–11If a poor man, one of your brothers, is with you within any of your gates in your land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother;
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 22:7 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.