Job 29:16
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.
American King James Version (AKJV)
I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.
American Standard Version (ASV)
I was a father to the needy: And the cause of him that I knew not I searched out.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
I was a father to the poor, searching out the cause of him who was strange to me.
Webster's Revision
I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.
World English Bible
I was a father to the needy. The cause of him who I didn't know, I searched out.
English Revised Version (ERV)
I was a father to the needy: and the cause of him that I knew not I searched out.
Clarke's Job 29:16 Bible Commentary
The cause which I knew not I searched out - When any thing difficult occurred, I did not give it a slight consideration; I examined it to the bottom, whatever pain, time, and trouble it cost me, that I might not pronounce a hasty judgment.
Barnes's Job 29:16 Bible Commentary
I was a father to the poor - I took them under my protection, and treated them as if they were my own children.
And the cause which I knew not I searched out - This is according to the interpretation of Jerome. But the more probable meaning is, "the cause of him who was unknown to me, that is, of the stranger, I searched out." So Rosenmuller, Herder, Umbreit, and Good. According to this, the sense is, that, as a magistrate, he gave particular attention to the cause of the stranger, and investigated it with care. It is possible that Job here designs specifically to reply to the charge brought against him by Eliphaz in Job 22:6 ff. The duty of showing particular attention to the stranger is often inculcated in the Bible, and was regarded as essential to a character of uprightness and piety among the Orientals.