Job 31:16
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;
American King James Version (AKJV)
If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;
American Standard Version (ASV)
If I have withheld the poor from their desire, Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
Basic English Translation (BBE)
If I kept back the desire of the poor; if the widow's eye was looking for help to no purpose;
Webster's Revision
If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;
World English Bible
"If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
English Revised Version (ERV)
If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;
Barnes's Job 31:16 Bible Commentary
If I have withheld the poor from their desire - Job now turns to another class of virtues, regarded also as of great importance in the patriarchal ages, kindness to the poor and the afflicted; to the fatherless and the widow. He appeals to his former life on this subject; affirms that he had a good conscience in the recollection of his dealings with them, and impliedly declares that it could not have been for any deficiency in the exercise of these virtues that his calamities had come upon him. The meaning here is, that he had not denied to the poor their wish. If they had come and desired bread of him, he had not withheld it; see Job 22:7.
Or caused the eyes of the widow to fail - That is, I have not frustrated her hopes, or disappointed her expectations, when she has looked intently upon me, and desired my aid. The "failing of the eyes" refers to failing of the object of their expectation; or the expression means that she had not looked to him in vain; see Job 11:20.
Wesley's Job 31:16 Bible Commentary
31:16 If I - Denied them what they desired of me. To fail - With tedious expectation of my justice or charity. Job is most large upon this head, because in this matter Eliphaz had most particularly accused him.