“You have sent widows away empty, And the strength of orphans has been crushed.
Parallel translations
- WEB You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
- KJV Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
- BSB You sent widows away empty-handed, and the strength of the fatherless was crushed.
- NKJV You have sent widows away empty, And the strength of the fatherless was crushed.
- NLT You must have sent widows away empty-handed and crushed the hopes of orphans.
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 sending widows away with nothing and crushing the orphans. He charges Job with the very sins God most condemns.
Overview
Care for widows and orphans is central to biblical righteousness (Ex 22:22; James 1:27), so Eliphaz aims his accusation at the gravest social sins. The charge is false, for Job will testify he rescued the fatherless and widow (Job 29:12-13). Eliphaz's words reveal a counselor more concerned to be right than to be just toward his suffering friend.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Job 24:21He devours the barren who don’t bear. He shows no kindness to the widow.
- Job 24:3They drive away the donkey of the fatherless, and they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
- Ezek 22:7In you have they treated father and mother with contempt. Among you they have oppressed the foreigner. In you they have wronged the fatherless and the widow.
- Job 31:21if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate,
- Isa 10:2to deprive the needy from justice, and to rob the poor among my people of their rights, that widows may be their plunder, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!
- Ps 37:17For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but Yahweh upholds the righteous.
- Job 29:12–13Because I delivered the poor who cried, and the fatherless also, who had no one to help him,
- Ps 94:6They kill the widow and the alien, and murder the fatherless.
- Job 31:16–18“If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
- Ezek 30:22Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong arm, and that which was broken; and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand.
- Isa 1:17Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Judge the fatherless. Plead for the widow.”
- Deut 27:19‘Cursed is he who withholds justice from the foreigner, fatherless, and widow.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
- Exod 22:21–24“You shall not wrong an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.
- Isa 1:23Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards. They don’t judge the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.
- Mal 3:5I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don’t fear me,” says Yahweh of Armies.
- Luke 18:3–5A widow was in that city, and she often came to him, saying, ‘Defend me from my adversary!’
- Ps 10:15Break the arm of the wicked. As for the evil man, seek out his wickedness until you find none.
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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 22:9 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
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