They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.
Parallel translations
- WEB There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor,
- BSB The fatherless infant is snatched from the breast; the nursing child of the poor is seized for a debt.
- NKJV “Some snatch the fatherless from the breast, And take a pledge from the poor.
- NASB “Others snatch an orphan from the breast, And they seize it as a pledge against the poor.
- NLT “The wicked snatch a widow’s child from her breast, taking the baby as security for a loan.
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
Oppressors snatch the fatherless infant and seize the poor as collateral. It matters as a horrifying picture of cruelty against children and debtors.
Overview
Job describes the wicked tearing the orphan from the breast and taking the poor man's possessions as a debt pledge. The breaking up of families and seizing of the destitute reveals heartless greed. God's tender care for the fatherless stands as judgment on such acts and as comfort to the oppressed.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 2
- Neh 5:5Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already: neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards.
- 2 Kgs 4:1Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen.
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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 24:9 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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