3 They drive away the donkey of the fatherless, and they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4 They turn the needy out of the way. The poor of the earth all hide themselves.
5 Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert, they go out to their work, seeking diligently for food. The wilderness yields them bread for their children.
6 They cut their food in the field. They glean the vineyard of the wicked.
7 They lie all night naked without clothing, and have no covering in the cold.
8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for lack of a shelter.
9 There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor,
KJVKing James Version
3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4 They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.
5 Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children.
6 They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.
7 They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.
8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
9 They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.
Show all 3 translations
JPSJPS Tanakh (1917)
3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge.
4 They turn the needy out of the way; the poor of the earth hide themselves together.
5 Behold, as wild asses in the wilderness they go forth to their work, seeking diligently for food; the desert yieldeth them bread for their children.
6 They cut his provender in the field; and they despoil the vineyard of the wicked.
7 They lie all night naked without clothing, and have no covering in the cold.
8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
9 There are that pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor;
Proverbs 28:28(v4)When the wicked rise, men hide themselves; but when they perish, the righteous thrive.
Exodus 22:26-27(v7)If you take your neighbor’s garment as collateral, you shall restore it to him before the sun goes down, for that is his only covering, it…
Job 22:6(v7)For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
Job 24:14(vv4–5)The murderer rises with the light. He kills the poor and needy. In the night he is like a thief.
Deuteronomy 24:6(v3)No man shall take the mill or the upper millstone as a pledge, for he takes a life in pledge.
Show all 56 cross-references
Lamentations 4:5(v8)Those who ate delicacies are desolate in the streets. Those who were brought up in purple embrace dunghills.
Deuteronomy 24:11-13(v7)You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you lend shall bring the pledge outside to you. If he is a poor man, you shall not sleep with…
Nehemiah 5:5(v9)Yet 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…
Job 5:5(v5)whose harvest the hungry eats up, and take it even out of the thorns. The snare gapes for their substance.
Job 39:5-7(v5)“Who has set the wild donkey free? Or who has loosened the bonds of the swift donkey, whose home I have made the wilderness, and the salt…
Psalms 104:23(v5)Man goes out to his work, to his labor until the evening.
Ezekiel 22:29(v4)The people of the land have used oppression and exercised robbery. Yes, they have troubled the poor and needy, and have oppressed the…
Amos 2:7(v4)They trample on the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and deny justice to the oppressed; and a man and his father use the same…
Micah 2:1(v5)Woe to those who devise iniquity and work evil on their beds! When the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of…
Micah 6:15(v6)You will sow, but won’t reap. You will tread the olives, but won’t anoint yourself with oil; and crush grapes, but won’t drink the wine.
Genesis 16:12(v5)He will be like a wild donkey among men. His hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him. He will live opposed to all…
Genesis 27:40(v5)You will live by your sword, and you will serve your brother. It will happen, when you will break loose, that you will shake his yoke from…
Genesis 31:40(v7)This was my situation: in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from my eyes.
Deuteronomy 24:10-13(v3)When you lend your neighbor any kind of loan, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge. You shall stand outside, and the man to…
Deuteronomy 24:17-21(v3)You shall not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice, nor take a widow’s clothing in pledge; but you shall remember that you…
Deuteronomy 28:33(v6)A nation which you don’t know will eat the fruit of your ground and all of your work. You will only be oppressed and crushed always,
Deuteronomy 28:51(v6)They will eat the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed. They also won’t leave you grain, new wine,…
Judges 6:3-6(v6)So it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the children of the east came up against them. They encamped…
1 Samuel 12:3(v3)Here I am. Witness against me before Yahweh, and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I…
2 Kings 4:1(v9)Now 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…
Job 12:6(v5)The tents of robbers prosper. Those who provoke God are secure, who carry their god in their hands.
Job 22:6-9(v3)For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing. You haven’t given water to the weary to…
Job 24:10(v7)So that they go around naked without clothing. Being hungry, they carry the sheaves.
Job 29:12(v4)Because I delivered the poor who cried, and the fatherless also, who had no one to help him,
Job 30:25(v4)Didn’t I weep for him who was in trouble? Wasn’t my soul grieved for the needy?
Job 31:16(v4)“If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
Job 31:16-17(v3)“If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, or have eaten my morsel alone, and the…
Job 31:19-20(v7)if I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or that the needy had no covering; if his heart hasn’t blessed me, if he hasn’t been warmed…
Psalms 41:1(v4)Blessed is he who considers the poor. Yahweh will deliver him in the day of evil.
Psalms 109:16(v4)because he didn’t remember to show kindness, but persecuted the poor and needy man, the broken in heart, to kill them.
Proverbs 4:16(v5)For they don’t sleep unless they do evil. Their sleep is taken away, unless they make someone fall.
Proverbs 22:16(v4)Whoever oppresses the poor for his own increase and whoever gives to the rich, both come to poverty.
Proverbs 28:12(v4)When the righteous triumph, there is great glory; but when the wicked rise, men hide themselves.
Proverbs 30:14(v4)There is a generation whose teeth are like swords, and their jaws like knives, to devour the poor from the earth, and the needy from among…
Proverbs 31:21(v7)She is not afraid of the snow for her household; for all her household are clothed with scarlet.
Song of Solomon 5:2(v8)I was asleep, but my heart was awake. It is the voice of my beloved who knocks: “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled; for…
Isaiah 10:2(v4)to 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…
Isaiah 58:7(v7)Isn’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…
Jeremiah 2:24(v5)a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that sniffs the wind in her craving. When she is in heat, who can turn her away? All those who seek…
Ezekiel 18:12(v4)has wronged the poor and needy, has taken by robbery, has not restored the pledge, and has lifted up his eyes to the idols, has committed…
Ezekiel 18:18(v4)As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother, and did that which is not good among his people, behold, he will die…
Hosea 7:6(v5)For they have prepared their heart like an oven, while they lie in wait. Their baker sleeps all the night. In the morning it burns as a…
Hosea 8:9(v5)For they have gone up to Assyria, like a wild donkey wandering alone. Ephraim has hired lovers for himself.
Amos 8:4-6(v4)Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail, Saying, ‘When will the new moon be gone, that we…
Micah 2:1-2(v4)Woe to those who devise iniquity and work evil on their beds! When the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of…
Zephaniah 3:3(v5)Her princes within her are roaring lions. Her judges are evening wolves. They leave nothing until the next day.
John 18:28(v5)They led Jesus therefore from Caiaphas into the Praetorium. It was early, and they themselves didn’t enter into the Praetorium, that they…
Acts 9:31(v7)So the assemblies throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace, and were built up. They were multiplied, walking in the fear of the…
Acts 23:12(v5)When it was day, some of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until…
Hebrews 11:38(v8)of whom the world was not worthy—wandering in deserts, mountains, caves, and the holes of the earth.
James 5:4-6(v4)Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have…
56 distinct cross-references across this passage (57 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (16 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv4, 5, 6, 8, 9And for cruelty and oppression dare not show their…
And for cruelty and oppression dare not show their faces.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv3–9Job 24:3 They drive away the ass of the…
Job 24:3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
Ver. 3. They drive away the ass of the fatherless] The only ass of orphans, those helpless, shiftless creatures, so merciless are these abigei, which is no small aggravation of their injustice. {see 2Sa 12:3} For all sins are not equal, as the Stoics once held, but lighter or heavier according to their circumstances. To rob the rich is a great offence, but to pillage the poor is far greater.
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They take the widow’s ox for a pledge] Without which she cannot plough; or, her cow, as some render it, without which she and her children cannot live. A poor body’s livelihood is his life (as that poor widow’s was ολον τον βιον, Mar 12:44, and the like is said of the haemorrhoisse, Luk 8:43), crush this snail in his shell, and you kill him. Now therefore albeit it be not unlawful to take a pledge for security in some cases; yet courtesy must be used, and mercy must be shown to orphans, widows, strangers, and such like, because they are God’s clients, and he hath taken them into his special care and tuition.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv3–9The ass, either the asses, the singular number being…
The ass, either the asses, the singular number being used collectively. Or he saith the ass, to aggravate their sin, that they robbed him who had but one ass. Compare 1Sa 12:2-4.
The fatherless; whose helpless condition required their pity and mercy.
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The widow’s ox; thereby depriving her not only of the ox itself, but of all the benefit of its labours, by which she sustained her life.
For a pledge; contrary to God’s law, first written in men’s hearts, and afterwards in Holy Scripture, Exo 22:26,27; Deu 24:6,10, &c.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv3–9They drive away the ass of the fatherless,.... Who…
They drive away the ass of the fatherless,.... Who are left destitute of friends, and have none to take care of them, and provide for them; and who having one ass to carry their goods for them from place to place, or to ride upon, which though a creature of no great worth, yet of some usefulness, this they drove away from its pasture, or however from its right owner; and who having but one, it was the more cruel and inhuman to take it from him, see, Sa2 12:3;
they take the widow's ox for a pledge; or oxen, the singular for the plural, with which her lands were ploughed, for a single ox could be but of little service: some render it "a cow" (h), by the milk of which she and her family were chiefly supported, as many poor country families are by the means of a good milch cow; and to take this, on which her livelihood depended, and retain for a pledge, was very barbarous; when the law concerning pledges took place among the Jews, in the times of Moses, which it seems was in being before with others, whatsoever was useful to persons, either to keep them warm, or by which they got their bread, were not to be taken, at least not detained for a pledge, see Exo 22:26.
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(h) "pro bove foemina, vacca", Bolducius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv3–9Pledge - Contrary to God's law, first written in…
Pledge - Contrary to God's law, first written in mens hearts, and afterwards in holy scripture, Exod. xxii, 26, 27.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv4–9Verse 4. They turn the needy out of the…
Verse 4. They turn the needy out of the way] They will not permit them to go by the accustomed paths; they oblige them to take circuitous routes. When the Marquis of H. was made ranger of Richmond Park, he thought it his duty to shut up a pathway which had existed for a long time; and those who presumed, after this shutting up, to break the fence, and take that path as formerly, were prosecuted. A cobbler near the place entered an action against the marquis: the cause was tried, the marquis cast, and the path ordered to be opened, on the ground that it had, time out of mind, been a public undisputed path. When one asked the cobbler, "How he could have the boldness to go to law with the Marquis of H.?" he answered, "Because I did not like to leave the world worse than I found it." All tolerated oppression and voluntary forfeiture of ancient rights, are injurious to society at large, and they who wink at them leave the world worse than they found it.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9Job 24:3-4. They drive away the ass of the…
Job 24:3-4. They drive away the ass of the fatherless — Whose helpless condition required their pity and mercy. He says, the ass, to aggravate their sin, in that they robbed him who had but one ass. They take the widow’s ox — Thereby depriving her, not only of the ox itself, but of all the benefit of its labours, by which her life was sustained; for a pledge — Contrary to God’s law, first written in men’s hearts, and afterward in the Holy Scriptures, Exo 22:26. They turn the needy out of the way — Out of the way of piety and virtue. They engage them to take evil courses by their examples, or promises, or threatenings. Or, out of their right, of which they deprive them, by subtlety or power. Or, rather, as the word מדרךְ, middarech, more properly signifies, and as the next clause explains it, out of the highway, out of the path or place in which these oppressors walk and range. These needy persons labour to keep out of their way for fear of their further injuries and oppressions. The poor of the earth hide themselves, &c. — For fear of these wicked tyrants and persecutors.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv3–9They drive away the ass of the fatherless -…
They drive away the ass of the fatherless - Of the orphan, who cannot protect himself, and whose only property may consist in this useful animal. Injury done to an orphan is always regarded as a crime of special magnitude, for they are unable to protect themselves; see the notes at Job 22:9.
They take the widow’s ox for a pledge - See the notes at Job 22:6. The widow was dependent on her ox to till the ground, and hence, the crime of taking it away in pledge for the payment of a debt.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv4–9Poor, by oppression, not allowing them to get their…
Poor, by oppression, not allowing them to get their bread, or to walk on the same road. (Calmet) --- And have. Hebrew and Septuagint, "the meek....have hidden themselves together."
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv3–9pledge--alluding to Job 22:6. Others really do, and with…
pledge--alluding to Job 22:6. Others really do, and with impunity, that which Eliphaz falsely charges the afflicted Job with.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv4–94. Out of the way — To which all…
4. Out of the way — To which all had equal rights. “Perhaps equivalent to our phrase, ‘kick out of the way.’” — Dillmann. The sense is, that the poor are forced to betake themselves to bypaths that they may escape overt acts of violence.
Hide themselves — Are made to hide themselves. They huddle together in cave or den, like wild beasts, from the fury of the storm.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv3–93. By “the ass” and “the ox” is meant…
3. By “the ass” and “the ox” is meant the single ass and ox which the fatherless and widow possess, needful for working their small field or affording them scanty nourishment. When deprived of these they are brought to complete destitution, and removed from the land.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv3, 6(3) They drive away the ass.—The ass and the…
(3) They drive away the ass.—The ass and the ox, the fatherless and the widow presumably having no more than one. He first describes the oppression of the country, and then that of the city (Job_24:12). We seem here to catch a glimpse of the sufferings of some oppressed and subject aboriginal race, such as the Canaanites may have been to the Jews, though there is probably no allusion to them. But, at all events, the writer and the speaker seem to have been familiar with some such abject and servile race, who haunted the desert and suffered at the hands of the more powerful tribes. Man’s inhumanity to man is, unhappily, a crime of very long standing.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv3–9They drive away the ass of the fatherless. This…
They drive away the ass of the fatherless. This was another form of oppression. "Whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed?" says Samuel, on laying down his judgeship. (1Sa_12:3) The "fatherless" were particularly liable to such ill treatment, seeing that they had lost their natural protector. They take the widow"s ox for a pledge. It may be true that this was nowhere a legal offence, not even among the Hebrews (Lee); but it was a real act of oppression, and forms a fitting counterpart to the injury done to the orphan. (On the natural tendency of selfish men to bear hard on these two classes, see Exo_22:22 Deu_24:17 Psa_94:6 Isa_1:23 Isa_10:2 Jer_5:28 Zec_7:10)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv5, 8Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Job continues speaking.
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these poor people go out to their work like wild donkeys in the wilderness, looking carefully for food
These poor people are spoken of as if they are wild donkeys who do not know where they will find food. AT: "these poor people go out to search for food as if they were wild donkeys in the wilderness" (See: Simile)
wild donkeys
"donkeys that no one owns or cares for"
Poor people reap in the night ... they glean grapes
These two lines describe the same thing and are used together to emphasize that these people are so hungry that they are forced to steal food at night. (See: Parallelism)
They lie naked ... they have no covering
These two lines describe the same thing and are used together to emphasize that these people do not have enough clothing to keep warm. (See: Parallelism)
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 6, 8, 9 And for cruelty and oppression dare not show their…
And for cruelty and oppression dare not show their faces.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv3–9 Job 24:3 They drive away the ass of the…
Job 24:3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
Ver. 3. They drive away the ass of the fatherless] The only ass of orphans, those helpless, shiftless creatures, so merciless are these abigei, which is no small aggravation of their injustice. {see 2Sa 12:3} For all sins are not equal, as the Stoics once held, but lighter or heavier according to their circumstances. To rob the rich is a great offence, but to pillage the poor is far greater.
Read full note →
They take the widow’s ox for a pledge] Without which she cannot plough; or, her cow, as some render it, without which she and her children cannot live. A poor body’s livelihood is his life (as that poor widow’s was ολον τον βιον, Mar 12:44, and the like is said of the haemorrhoisse, Luk 8:43), crush this snail in his shell, and you kill him. Now therefore albeit it be not unlawful to take a pledge for security in some cases; yet courtesy must be used, and mercy must be shown to orphans, widows, strangers, and such like, because they are God’s clients, and he hath taken them into his special care and tuition.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv3–9 The ass, either the asses, the singular number being…
The ass, either the asses, the singular number being used collectively. Or he saith the ass, to aggravate their sin, that they robbed him who had but one ass. Compare 1Sa 12:2-4.
The fatherless; whose helpless condition required their pity and mercy.
Read full note →
The widow’s ox; thereby depriving her not only of the ox itself, but of all the benefit of its labours, by which she sustained her life.
For a pledge; contrary to God’s law, first written in men’s hearts, and afterwards in Holy Scripture, Exo 22:26,27; Deu 24:6,10, &c.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv3–9 They drive away the ass of the fatherless,.... Who…
They drive away the ass of the fatherless,.... Who are left destitute of friends, and have none to take care of them, and provide for them; and who having one ass to carry their goods for them from place to place, or to ride upon, which though a creature of no great worth, yet of some usefulness, this they drove away from its pasture, or however from its right owner; and who having but one, it was the more cruel and inhuman to take it from him, see, Sa2 12:3;
they take the widow's ox for a pledge; or oxen, the singular for the plural, with which her lands were ploughed, for a single ox could be but of little service: some render it "a cow" (h), by the milk of which she and her family were chiefly supported, as many poor country families are by the means of a good milch cow; and to take this, on which her livelihood depended, and retain for a pledge, was very barbarous; when the law concerning pledges took place among the Jews, in the times of Moses, which it seems was in being before with others, whatsoever was useful to persons, either to keep them warm, or by which they got their bread, were not to be taken, at least not detained for a pledge, see Exo 22:26.
Read full note →
(h) "pro bove foemina, vacca", Bolducius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv3–9 Pledge - Contrary to God's law, first written in…
Pledge - Contrary to God's law, first written in mens hearts, and afterwards in holy scripture, Exod. xxii, 26, 27.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv4–9 Verse 4. They turn the needy out of the…
Verse 4. They turn the needy out of the way] They will not permit them to go by the accustomed paths; they oblige them to take circuitous routes. When the Marquis of H. was made ranger of Richmond Park, he thought it his duty to shut up a pathway which had existed for a long time; and those who presumed, after this shutting up, to break the fence, and take that path as formerly, were prosecuted. A cobbler near the place entered an action against the marquis: the cause was tried, the marquis cast, and the path ordered to be opened, on the ground that it had, time out of mind, been a public undisputed path. When one asked the cobbler, "How he could have the boldness to go to law with the Marquis of H.?" he answered, "Because I did not like to leave the world worse than I found it." All tolerated oppression and voluntary forfeiture of ancient rights, are injurious to society at large, and they who wink at them leave the world worse than they found it.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 Job 24:3-4. They drive away the ass of the…
Job 24:3-4. They drive away the ass of the fatherless — Whose helpless condition required their pity and mercy. He says, the ass, to aggravate their sin, in that they robbed him who had but one ass. They take the widow’s ox — Thereby depriving her, not only of the ox itself, but of all the benefit of its labours, by which her life was sustained; for a pledge — Contrary to God’s law, first written in men’s hearts, and afterward in the Holy Scriptures, Exo 22:26. They turn the needy out of the way — Out of the way of piety and virtue. They engage them to take evil courses by their examples, or promises, or threatenings. Or, out of their right, of which they deprive them, by subtlety or power. Or, rather, as the word מדרךְ, middarech, more properly signifies, and as the next clause explains it, out of the highway, out of the path or place in which these oppressors walk and range. These needy persons labour to keep out of their way for fear of their further injuries and oppressions. The poor of the earth hide themselves, &c. — For fear of these wicked tyrants and persecutors.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv3–9 They drive away the ass of the fatherless -…
They drive away the ass of the fatherless - Of the orphan, who cannot protect himself, and whose only property may consist in this useful animal. Injury done to an orphan is always regarded as a crime of special magnitude, for they are unable to protect themselves; see the notes at Job 22:9.
They take the widow’s ox for a pledge - See the notes at Job 22:6. The widow was dependent on her ox to till the ground, and hence, the crime of taking it away in pledge for the payment of a debt.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv4–9 Poor, by oppression, not allowing them to get their…
Poor, by oppression, not allowing them to get their bread, or to walk on the same road. (Calmet) --- And have. Hebrew and Septuagint, "the meek....have hidden themselves together."
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv3–9 pledge--alluding to Job 22:6. Others really do, and with…
pledge--alluding to Job 22:6. Others really do, and with impunity, that which Eliphaz falsely charges the afflicted Job with.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv4–9 4. Out of the way — To which all…
4. Out of the way — To which all had equal rights. “Perhaps equivalent to our phrase, ‘kick out of the way.’” — Dillmann. The sense is, that the poor are forced to betake themselves to bypaths that they may escape overt acts of violence.
Hide themselves — Are made to hide themselves. They huddle together in cave or den, like wild beasts, from the fury of the storm.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv3–9 3. By “the ass” and “the ox” is meant…
3. By “the ass” and “the ox” is meant the single ass and ox which the fatherless and widow possess, needful for working their small field or affording them scanty nourishment. When deprived of these they are brought to complete destitution, and removed from the land.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv3, 6 (3) They drive away the ass.—The ass and the…
(3) They drive away the ass.—The ass and the ox, the fatherless and the widow presumably having no more than one. He first describes the oppression of the country, and then that of the city (Job_24:12). We seem here to catch a glimpse of the sufferings of some oppressed and subject aboriginal race, such as the Canaanites may have been to the Jews, though there is probably no allusion to them. But, at all events, the writer and the speaker seem to have been familiar with some such abject and servile race, who haunted the desert and suffered at the hands of the more powerful tribes. Man’s inhumanity to man is, unhappily, a crime of very long standing.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv3–9 They drive away the ass of the fatherless. This…
They drive away the ass of the fatherless. This was another form of oppression. "Whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed?" says Samuel, on laying down his judgeship. (1Sa_12:3) The "fatherless" were particularly liable to such ill treatment, seeing that they had lost their natural protector. They take the widow"s ox for a pledge. It may be true that this was nowhere a legal offence, not even among the Hebrews (Lee); but it was a real act of oppression, and forms a fitting counterpart to the injury done to the orphan. (On the natural tendency of selfish men to bear hard on these two classes, see Exo_22:22 Deu_24:17 Psa_94:6 Isa_1:23 Isa_10:2 Jer_5:28 Zec_7:10)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv5, 8 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Job continues speaking.
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these poor people go out to their work like wild donkeys in the wilderness, looking carefully for food
These poor people are spoken of as if they are wild donkeys who do not know where they will find food. AT: "these poor people go out to search for food as if they were wild donkeys in the wilderness" (See: Simile)
wild donkeys
"donkeys that no one owns or cares for"
Poor people reap in the night ... they glean grapes
These two lines describe the same thing and are used together to emphasize that these people are so hungry that they are forced to steal food at night. (See: Parallelism)
They lie naked ... they have no covering
These two lines describe the same thing and are used together to emphasize that these people do not have enough clothing to keep warm. (See: Parallelism)
translationWords
desert
Arabah
reap
glean
grape
harvest
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv3, 6, 7, 9 24:3 The law did not allow seizing necessary belongings…
24:3 The law did not allow seizing necessary belongings as security or collateral for a loan (22:6-9; Deut 24:6, 10-13, 17-21).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.