“Some snatch the fatherless from the breast, And take a pledge from the poor.
Parallel translations
- WEB There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor,
- KJV They 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.
- 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 brothers, our children as their children. Behold, we bring our sons and our daughters into bondage to be servants, and some of our daughters have been brought into bondage. It is also not in our power to help it, because other men have our fields and our vineyards.”
- 2 Kgs 4:1Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead. You know that your servant feared Yahweh. Now the creditor has come to take for himself my two children to be slaves.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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
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.