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Selected Verse: Job 29:16 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
Job 29:16	Strong Concordance	I was a father [01] to the poor [034]: and the cause [07379] which I knew [03045] not I searched out [02713].
	King James	I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
So far was I from "breaking the arms of the fatherless," as Eliphaz asserts (Job 22:9), I was a "father" to such. the cause which I knew not--rather, "of him whom I knew not," the stranger (Pro 29:7 [UMBREIT]; contrast Luk 18:1, &c.). Applicable to almsgiving (Psa 41:1); but here primarily, judicial conscientiousness (Job 31:13).

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

So far was I from "breaking the arms of the fatherless," as Eliphaz asserts (Job 22:9), I was a "father" to such.

the cause which I knew not--rather, "of him whom I knew not," the stranger (Pro 29:7 [UMBREIT]; contrast Luk 18:1, &c.). Applicable to almsgiving (Psa 41:1); but here primarily, judicial conscientiousness (Job 31:13).

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
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.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]

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.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
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.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826

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.

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