Job 31:13-20

31:13 “If I have disregarded the right of my male servants

or my female servants

when they disputed ¹  with me,

31:14 then what will I do when God confronts me in judgment; ² 

when he intervenes, ³ 

how will I respond to him?

31:15 Did not the one who made me in the womb make them? ⁴ 

Did not the same one form us in the womb?

31:16 If I have refused to give the poor what they desired, ⁵ 

or caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

31:17 If I ate my morsel of bread myself,

and did not share any of it with orphans ⁶  –

31:18 but from my youth I raised the orphan ⁷  like a father,

and from my mother’s womb ⁸ 

I guided the widow! ⁹ 

31:19 If I have seen anyone about to perish for lack of clothing,

or a poor man without a coat,

31:20 whose heart did not bless me ¹⁰ 

as he warmed himself with the fleece of my sheep, ¹¹ 

[31:13]  ¹ tn This construction is an adverbial clause using the temporal preposition, the infinitive from רִיב (riv, “contend”), and the suffix which is the subjective genitive.

[31:14]  ² tn Heb “arises.” The LXX reads “takes vengeance,” an interpretation that is somewhat correct but unnecessary. The verb “to rise” would mean “to confront in judgment.”

[31:14]  ³ tn The verb פָקַד (paqad) means “to visit,” but with God as the subject it means any divine intervention for blessing or cursing, anything God does that changes a person’s life. Here it is “visit to judge.”

[31:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “him,” but the plural pronoun has been used in the translation to indicate that the referent is the servants mentioned in v. 13 (since the previous “him” in v. 14 refers to God).

[31:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “kept the poor from [their] desire.”

[31:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “and an orphan did not eat from it.”

[31:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “he grew up with me.” Several commentators have decided to change the pronoun to “I,” and make it causative.

[31:18]  ⁸ tn The expression “from my mother’s womb” is obviously hyperbolic. It is a way of saying “all his life.”

[31:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “I guided her,” referring to the widow mentioned in v. 16.

[31:20]  ¹⁰ tn The MT has simply “if his loins did not bless me.” In the conditional clause this is another protasis. It means, “if I saw someone dying and if he did not thank me for clothing them.” It is Job’s way of saying that whenever he saw a need he met it, and he received his share of thanks – which prove his kindness. G. R. Driver has it “without his loins having blessed me,” taking “If…not” as an Aramaism, meaning “except” (AJSL 52 [1935/36]: 164f.).

[31:20]  ¹¹ tn This clause is interpreted here as a subordinate clause to the first half of the verse. It could also be a separate clause: “was he not warmed…?”