Job 31:16-21

31:16 If I have refused to give the poor what they desired, ¹ 

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 ²  –

31:18 but from my youth I raised the orphan ³  like a father,

and from my mother’s womb ⁴ 

I guided the widow! ⁵ 

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 ⁶ 

as he warmed himself with the fleece of my sheep, ⁷ 

31:21 if I have raised my hand ⁸  to vote against the orphan,

when I saw my support in the court, ⁹ 

Psalms 12:1

Psalm 12 ¹⁰ 

For the music director; according to the sheminith style; ¹¹  a psalm of David.

12:1 Deliver, Lord!

For the godly ¹²  have disappeared; ¹³ 

people of integrity ¹⁴  have vanished. ¹⁵ 

Proverbs 14:21

14:21 The one who despises his neighbor sins,

but whoever is kind to the needy is blessed.

Proverbs 14:31

14:31 The one who oppresses ¹⁶  the poor insults ¹⁷  his Creator,

but whoever shows favor ¹⁸  to the needy honors him.

Proverbs 17:5

17:5 The one who mocks the poor ¹⁹  insults ²⁰  his Creator;

whoever rejoices over disaster will not go unpunished.

Proverbs 19:17

19:17 The one who is gracious ²¹  to the poor lends ²²  to the Lord,

and the Lord ²³  will repay him ²⁴  for his good deed. ²⁵ 

Proverbs 28:8

28:8 The one who increases his wealth by increasing interest ²⁶ 

gathers it for someone who is gracious ²⁷  to the needy.

Isaiah 58:7-8

58:7 I want you ²⁸  to share your food with the hungry

and to provide shelter for homeless, oppressed people. ²⁹ 

When you see someone naked, clothe him!

Don’t turn your back on your own flesh and blood! ³⁰ 

58:8 Then your light will shine like the sunrise; ³¹ 

your restoration will quickly arrive; ³² 

your godly behavior ³³  will go before you,

and the Lord’s splendor will be your rear guard. ³⁴ 

Daniel 4:27

4:27 Therefore, O king, may my advice be pleasing to you. Break away from your sins by doing what is right, and from your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps your prosperity will be prolonged.” ³⁵ 

Daniel 4:2

4:2 I am delighted to tell you about the signs and wonders that the most high God has done for me.

Colossians 1:9

Paul’s Prayer for the Growth of the Church

1:9 For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, ³⁶  have not ceased praying for you and asking God ³⁷  to fill ³⁸  you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

[31:16]  ¹ tn Heb “kept the poor from [their] desire.”

[31:17]  ² tn Heb “and an orphan did not eat from it.”

[31:18]  ³ tn Heb “he grew up with me.” Several commentators have decided to change the pronoun to “I,” and make it causative.

[31:18]  ⁴ tn The expression “from my mother’s womb” is obviously hyperbolic. It is a way of saying “all his life.”

[31:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “I guided her,” referring to the widow mentioned in v. 16.

[31:20]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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…?”

[31:21]  ⁸ tn The expression “raised my hand” refers to a threatening manner or gesture in the court rather than a threat of physical violence in the street. Thus the words “to vote” are supplied in the translation to indicate the setting.

[31:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “gate,” referring to the city gate where judicial decisions were rendered in the culture of the time. The translation uses the word “court” to indicate this to the modern reader, who might not associate a city gate complex with judicial functions.

[12:1]  ¹⁰ sn Psalm 12. The psalmist asks the Lord to intervene, for society is overrun by deceitful, arrogant oppressors and godly individuals are a dying breed. When the Lord announces his intention to defend the oppressed, the psalmist affirms his confidence in the divine promise.

[12:1]  ¹¹ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term שְׁמִינִית (shÿminit) is uncertain; perhaps it refers to a particular style of music. See 1 Chr 15:21.

[12:1]  ¹² tn The singular form is collective or representative. Note the plural form “faithful [ones]” in the following line. A “godly [one]” (חָסִיד, khasid) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 18:25; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10).

[12:1]  ¹³ tn Or “have come to an end.”

[12:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the faithful [ones] from the sons of man.”

[12:1]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew verb פָּסַס (pasas) occurs only here. An Akkadian cognate means “efface, blot out.”

[14:31]  ¹⁶ tn The verb עָשַׁק (’ashaq) normally means “to oppress” (as in many English versions). However, here it might mean “to slander.” See J. A. Emerton, “Notes on Some Passages in the Book of Proverbs,” JTS 20 (1969): 202-22.

[14:31]  ¹⁷ sn In the Piel this verb has the meaning of “to reproach; to taunt; to say sharp things against” someone (cf. NIV “shows contempt for”). By oppressing the poor one taunts or mistreats God because that person is in the image of God – hence the reference to the “Creator.” To ridicule what God made is to ridicule God himself.

[14:31]  ¹⁸ sn The phrase “shows favor” is contrasted with the term “oppresses.” To “show favor” means to be gracious to (or treat kindly) those who do not deserve it or cannot repay it. It is treatment that is gratis. This honors God because he commanded it to be done (Prov 14:21; 17:5; 19:17).

[17:5]  ¹⁹ sn The parallelism helps define the subject matter: The one who “mocks the poor” (NAB, NASB, NIV) is probably one who “rejoices [NIV gloats] over disaster.” The poverty is hereby explained as a disaster that came to some. The topic of the parable is the person who mocks others by making fun of their misfortune.

[17:5]  ²⁰ sn The Hebrew word translated “insults” (חֵרֵף, kheref) means “reproach; taunt” (as with a cutting taunt); it describes words that show contempt for or insult God. The idea of reproaching the Creator may be mistaking and blaming God’s providential control of the world (C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 337). W. G. Plaut, however, suggests that mocking the poor means holding up their poverty as a personal failure and thus offending their dignity and their divine nature (Proverbs, 187).

[19:17]  ²¹ sn The participle חוֹנֵן (khonen, “shows favor to”) is related to the word for “grace.” The activity here is the kind favor shown poor people for no particular reason and with no hope of repayment. It is literally an act of grace.

[19:17]  ²² tn The form מַלְוֵה (malveh) is the Hiphil participle from לָוָה (lavah) in construct; it means “to cause to borrow; to lend.” The expression here is “lender of the Lord.” The person who helps the poor becomes the creditor of God.

[19:17]  ²³ tn Heb “he.” The referent of the 3rd person masculine singular pronoun is “the Lord” in the preceding line, which has been supplied here in the translation for clarity.

[19:17]  ²⁴ sn The promise of reward does not necessarily mean that the person who gives to the poor will get money back; the rewards in the book of Proverbs involve life and prosperity in general.

[19:17]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and his good deed will repay him.” The word גְּמֻלוֹ (gÿmulo) could be (1) the subject or (2) part of a double accusative of the verb. Understanding it as part of the double accusative makes better sense, for then the subject of the verb is God. How “his deed” could repay him is not immediately obvious.

[28:8]  ²⁶ tn Heb “by interest and increase” (so ASV; NASB “by interest and usury”; NAB “by interest and overcharge.” The two words seem to be synonyms; they probably form a nominal hendiadys, meaning “by increasing [exorbitant] interest.” The law prohibited making a commission or charging interest (Exod 22:25; Lev 25:36-37; Deut 23:20; Ps 15:5). If the poor needed help, the rich were to help them – but not charge them interest.

[28:8]  ²⁷ tn The term חוֹנֵן (khonen, “someone who shows favor”) is the active participle.

[58:7]  ²⁸ tn Heb “Is it not?” The rhetorical question here expects a positive answer, “It is!”

[58:7]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and afflicted [ones], homeless [ones] you should bring [into] a house.” On the meaning of מְרוּדִים (mÿrudim, “homeless”) see HALOT 633 s.v. *מָרוּד.

[58:7]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and from your flesh do not hide yourself.”

[58:8]  ³¹ tn Heb “will burst out like the dawn.”

[58:8]  ³² tn Heb “prosper”; KJV “spring forth speedily.”

[58:8]  ³³ tn Or “righteousness.” Their godly behavior will be on display for all to see.

[58:8]  ³⁴ sn The nation will experience God’s protective presence.

[4:27]  ³⁵ tn Aram “if there may be a lengthening to your prosperity.”

[1:9]  ³⁶ tn Or “heard about it”; Grk “heard.” There is no direct object stated in the Greek (direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context). A direct object is expected by an English reader, however, so most translations supply one. Here, however, it is not entirely clear what the author “heard”: a number of translations supply “it” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV; NAB “this”), but this could refer back either to (1) “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8, or (2) “your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints” (v. 4). In light of this uncertainty, other translations supply “about you” (TEV, NIV, CEV, NLT). This is preferred by the present translation since, while it does not resolve the ambiguity entirely, it does make it less easy for the English reader to limit the reference only to “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8.

[1:9]  ³⁷ tn The term “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but the following reference to “the knowledge of his will” makes it clear that “God” is in view as the object of the “praying and asking,” and should therefore be included in the English translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ³⁸ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause has been translated as substantival, indicating the content of the prayer and asking. The idea of purpose may also be present in this clause.