to see · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular
perish
א֭וֹבֵד'O.ved
H6
properly · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
clothing
לְב֑וּשׁle.Vush
H3830
a garment (literally or figuratively) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
poor
לָאֶבְיֽוֹןla.'ev.Yon
H34
destitute · preposition with the article + adjective, masculine singular absolute
covering
כְּ֝ס֗וּתke.Sut
H3682
a cover (garment) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Job 22:6 For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
1 John 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
2 Chronicles 28:15 And the men which were expressed by name rose up, and took the captives, and with the spoil clothed all that were naked among them, and arra…
Job 24:4 They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.
Job 29:13 The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
Isaiah 58:7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou…
Matthew 25:36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Matthew 25:43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 31:16-23
Eliphaz had particularly charged Job with unmercifulness to the poor (Job 22:6, etc.): Thou hast withholden bread from the hungry, stripped the naked of their clothing, and sent widows away empty. One would think he could not have been so very positive and express in his charge unless there had been some truth in it, some ground, for it; and yet it appears, by Job's protestation, that it was utterly false and groundless; he was never guilty of any such thing. See here,
I. The testimony which Job's conscience gave in concerning his constant behaviour towards the poor. He enlarges most upon this head because in this matter he was most particularly accused. He solemnly protests,
1. That he had…
If I have seen any perish for want of clothing,.... A man may be in such poor circumstances as to want proper clothing to cover his naked body with, and preserve it from the inclemencies of the weather, and for want of it be ready to perish or die with cold. Job denies he had seen any such; not that he had never seen persons in such perishing circumstances; but he had not seen them as to "despise" them, as the Vulgate Latin version, as to have them in contempt, or look at them with disdain because of their poverty and rags, or sordid apparel; or so as to "overlook" them, as the Septuagint version, to neglect them, and to take no notice of them, and make no provision for their clothing, a war…
19 If I saw one perishing without clothing,
And that the needy had no covering;
20 If his loins blessed me not,
And he did not warm himself from the hide of my lambs;
21 If I have lifted up my hand over the orphan,
Because I saw my help in the gate:
22 Let my shoulder fall out of its shoulder-blade,
And mine arm be broken from its bone;
23 For terror would come upon me, the destruction of God,
And before His majesty I should not be able to stand.
On אובד comp. on Job 4:11; Job 29:13; he who is come down from his right place and is perishing (root בד, to separate, still perfectly visible through the Arab. bâda, ba‛ida, to perish), or also he who is already perished, periens and perditus. The…
The Church Fathers
"If I left without dressing, the naked man near to exhale. If I have not inspired confidence in the remission of sins, and I have not covered, as with a garment, the shameful nakedness of the sinner near perishing. For the multitude of his sins leads him to despair. Hence the saying, "And whose sins have been covered." "
If I despised any passing by, because he had no covering, and a poor man without clothing, if his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep. Because he did not despise the poor, he displayed the virtue of humility; and because he covered him, of pitifulness. For these two virtues ought to be so linked together, as to be even supported by reciprocal practice; that so neither humility, when it reverences a fellow-creature, should abandon the grace of free giving, nor pity, when it gives, be made to swell high. Thus towards the need of a fellow-creature, let pity sustain humility, humility sustain pity, so that when thou seest one who is a sharer of thine own nature lacking the necessaries of life, thou shouldest neither through pitilessness cease to cover him, nor from pride cease to reverence him, whom thou dost cover. For there are persons who the moment they are entreated for necessaries by their brethren in need, afterwards intending to bestow gifts on them, first let loose words of insult against them. Which persons though in things they execute the office of pity, yet in words lose the grace of humility, so that for the most part it seems that they are now paying satisfaction for an injury inflicted, when after abuse they bestow gifts. Nor is it a thing of high practice, that they give the things that are begged for, because by the very boon of their giving they scarcely cover over that transgression of speech. To which persons is it well said by the book of Ecclesiasticus, To every gift give not the bitterness of an evil word. And again; Lo, a word is better than a gift? and both are with a man that is justified, i.e. that a gift should be exhibited through pitifulness, and a good word bestowed through humility. But on the other hand, others are not forward to support their needy brethren with things; but only to cherish them with soft words. Which persons the holy preaching of James strongly rebukes, saying, If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled: notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body: what shall it profit you? Which persons the Apostle also admonishes, saying, My little children, Let us not love in word, neither in tongue: but in deed and in truth. For our loving affection must…
Dictionary and topics
Afflicted, Duty Toward The · To relieve them — To relieve them
Beneficence · .Job — .Job
Garments · Called: Clothing — Called: Clothing
Integrity · 16:19,20; — 16:19,20;
Love To Man · Should be exhibited, in: Visiting the sick, &c — Should be exhibited, in: Visiting the sick, &c
Poor · UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
unfair to . . . servants: This might refer to violations of the fourth commandment (Deut 5:12-15). • God created both me and my servants: Job extended the implications of being created in God’s image to the poor (Prov 14:31; 22:2) and even to slaves.
Rashi on Job 31:18
For, from my youth it raised me This virtue [raised me] as a father who raises me and teaches me. So did the uprightness of my heart teach me from my youth.
and from my mother’s womb I led it This trait.
