I was a father to the needy, and I took up the case of the stranger.
Parallel translations
- WEB I was a father to the needy. The cause of him who I didn’t know, I searched out.
- KJV I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.
- NKJV I was a father to the poor, And I searched out the case that I did not know.
- NASB “I was a father to the poor, And I investigated the case which I did not know.
- NLT I was a father to the poor and assisted strangers who needed help.
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
Job was a father to the needy and championed the cause of strangers.
Overview
Job describes fatherly care for the poor and diligent investigation of the cases of those he did not even know, ensuring justice. His advocacy extended beyond friends to strangers in need. This reflects God's impartial justice and love for the marginalized, a love supremely shown in Christ, who befriends the outcast and pleads our cause (1 John 2:1).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Prov 29:7The righteous consider the cause of the poor, but the wicked have no regard for such concerns.
- Ps 68:5A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in His holy habitation.
- Job 24:4They push the needy off the road and force all the poor of the land into hiding.
- Job 31:18though from my youth I reared him as would a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow—
- Prov 25:2It is the glory of God to conceal a matter and the glory of kings to search it out.
- Esth 2:7And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah (that is, Esther), the daughter of his uncle, because she did not have a father or mother. The young woman was lovely in form and appearance, and when her father and mother had died, Mordecai had taken her in as his own daughter.
- Exod 18:26And they judged the people at all times; they would bring the difficult cases to Moses, but any minor issue they would judge themselves.
- Deut 13:14then you must inquire, investigate, and interrogate thoroughly. And if it is established with certainty that this abomination has been committed among you,
- Eph 5:1Be imitators of God, therefore, as beloved children,
- 1 Kgs 3:16–28At that time two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.
- Deut 17:8–10If a case is too difficult for you to judge, whether the controversy within your gates is regarding bloodshed, lawsuits, or assaults, you must go up to the place the LORD your God will choose.
- Jas 1:27Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 29:16 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.