Job 24:9

Easy-to-Read Version

They take a nursing baby from its mother. They take a poor person's child to guarantee a loan. They force the poor to move out of their way and to get off the road. "The poor are like wild donkeys that go out to the desert to find food. From morning to night they work to gather food for their children. They have to work in the fields, harvesting grain. They work for the rich, gathering grapes in their vineyards. They must sleep all night without clothes. They have no covers to protect them from the cold. They are soaked with rain in the mountains. They stay close to the large rocks for shelter.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The fatherless infant is snatched from the breast;the nursing child of the poor is seized as collateral.

Hebrew Names Version
There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast, And take a pledge of the poor,

King James Version
They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.

English Standard Version
(There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast, and they take a pledge against the poor.)

New Century Version
The fatherless child is grabbed from its mother's breast; they take a poor mother's baby to pay for what she owes.

New English Translation
The fatherless child is snatched from the breast, the infant of the poor is taken as a pledge.

Amplified Bible
"Others snatch the fatherless [infants] from the breast [to sell or make them slaves], And against the poor they take a pledge [of clothing].

New American Standard Bible
"Others snatch an orphan from the breast, And they seize it as a pledge against the poor.

World English Bible
There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast, And take a pledge of the poor,

Geneva Bible (1587)
They plucke the fatherles from the breast, and take the pledge of the poore.

Legacy Standard Bible
Others snatch the orphan from the breast,And against the afflicted they take a pledge.

Berean Standard Bible
The fatherless infant is snatched from the breast; the nursing child of the poor is seized for a debt.

Contemporary English Version
Children whose fathers have died are taken from their mothers as payment for a debt.

Complete Jewish Bible
"There are those who pluck orphans from the breast and [those who] take [the clothes of] the poor in pledge,

Darby Translation
They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor:

George Lamsa Translation
They take by force plunder of the fatherless, and they devour the poor.

Good News Translation
Evil people make slaves of fatherless infants and take the children of the poor in payment for debts.

Lexham English Bible
"They snatch the orphan from the breast, and they take a pledge against the needy.

Literal Translation
They seize the orphan from the breast, and lay a pledge on the poor.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
They spoyle the suckinge fatherlesse children, and put the poore in preson:

American Standard Version
There are that pluck the fatherless from the breast, And take a pledge of the poor;

Bible in Basic English
The child without a father is forced from its mother's breast, and they take the young children of the poor for debt.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
There are that pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor;

King James Version (1611)
They plucke the fatherlesse from the brest, and take a pledge of the poore.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
They plucke the fatherlesse from the brest, and take the pledge from the poore.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
They have snatched the fatherless from the breast, and have afflicted the outcast.

English Revised Version
There are that pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor:

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Thei diden violence, and robbiden fadirles and modirles children; and thei spuyliden, `ether robbiden, the comynte of pore men.

Update Bible Version
They pluck the fatherless from the breast, And take a pledge of the poor;

Webster's Bible Translation
They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.

New King James Version
"Some snatch the fatherless from the breast, And take a pledge from the poor.

New Living Translation
"The wicked snatch a widow's child from her breast, taking the baby as security for a loan.

New Life Bible
Others take from the breast the child who has no father. They take the child from the poor as a promise that they will pay what they owe.

New Revised Standard
"There are those who snatch the orphan child from the breast, and take as a pledge the infant of the poor.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Men tear, from the breast, the fatherless, and, over the poor, they take a pledge;

Douay-Rheims Bible
They have violently robbed the fatherless, and stripped the poor common people.

Revised Standard Version
(There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast, and take in pledge the infant of the poor.)

Young's Literal Translation
They take violently away From the breast the orphan, And on the poor they lay a pledge.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Others snatch the orphan from the breast, And against the poor they take a pledge.

Contextual Overview

¹ "Why doesn't God All-Powerful set times for judgment? And why can't his followers know when those times will be? ² "People move property markers to get more of their neighbor's land. People steal flocks and lead them to other grasslands. ³ They steal a donkey that belongs to an orphan. They take a widow's cow until she pays what she owes them. They take a nursing baby from its mother. They take a poor person's child to guarantee a loan. ⁴ They force the poor to move out of their way and to get off the road. ⁵ "The poor are like wild donkeys that go out to the desert to find food. From morning to night they work to gather food for their children. ⁶ They have to work in the fields, harvesting grain. They work for the rich, gathering grapes in their vineyards. ⁷ They must sleep all night without clothes. They have no covers to protect them from the cold. ⁸ They are soaked with rain in the mountains. They stay close to the large rocks for shelter. They have no clothes, so they work naked. They carry piles of grain for others, but they go hungry. They press out olive oil and walk on grapes in the winepress, but they have nothing to drink. In the city you can hear the sad sounds of dying people. Those who are hurt cry out for help, but God does not listen. "Some people rebel against the light. They don't know what God wants. They don't live the way he wants. A murderer gets up at dawn and kills poor, helpless people. And at night he becomes a thief. A man who commits adultery waits for the night to come. He thinks, ‘No one will see me,' but still, he covers his face. When it is dark, evil people go out and break into houses. But during the day they lock themselves in their homes to avoid the light. The darkest night is their morning. They are friends with the terrors of darkness. " You say, ‘Evil people are taken away like things carried away in a flood. The land they own is cursed, so no one goes to work in their vineyards. As hot, dry weather melts away the winter snows, so the grave takes away those who have sinned. Their own mothers will forget them. Only the worms will want them. No one will remember them. They will be broken like a rotten stick! These evil people hurt women who have no children to protect them, and they refuse to help widows. By his power God removes the powerful. Even if they have a high position, they cannot be sure of their lives. They might feel safe and secure, but God is watching how they live. They might be successful for a while, but then they will be gone. Like everyone else, they will be cut down like grain.' "I swear these things are true! Who can prove that I lied? Who can show that I am wrong?" ⁹ They take a nursing baby from its mother. They take a poor person's child to guarantee a loan. They force the poor to move out of their way and to get off the road. "The poor are like wild donkeys that go out to the desert to find food. From morning to night they work to gather food for their children. They have to work in the fields, harvesting grain. They work for the rich, gathering grapes in their vineyards. They must sleep all night without clothes. They have no covers to protect them from the cold. They are soaked with rain in the mountains. They stay close to the large rocks for shelter. ¹⁰ They have no clothes, so they work naked. They carry piles of grain for others, but they go hungry.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

2 Kings 4:1, Nehemiah 5:5

Reciprocal: Exodus 22:26 - to pledge Deuteronomy 24:12 - General Job 6:27 - the fatherless Job 22:6 - For thou Job 31:21 - lifted Proverbs 23:10 - fatherless Jeremiah 22:3 - do no violence Ezekiel 18:7 - hath restored Ezekiel 33:15 - restore

Cross-References

Genesis 24:2
Abraham's oldest servant was in charge of everything he owned. Abraham called that servant to him and said, "Put your hand under my leg.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

They pluck the fatherless from the breast,.... Either on purpose to starve it, which must be extremely barbarous; or to sell it to be brought up a slave; or by obliging the mother to wean it before the due time, that she might be the better able to do work for them they obliged her to. Mr. Broughton renders the words, "of mischievousness they rob the fatherless"; that is, through the greatness of the mischief they do, as Ben Gersom interprets it; or through the exceeding mischievous disposition they are of; of which this is a flagrant instance; or

"they rob the fatherless of what remains for him after spoiling n,''

or devastation, through the plunder of his father's substance now dead, which was exceeding cruel:

and take a pledge of the poor; either the poor himself, or his poor fatherless children, see 2 Kings 4:1; or what is "upon the poor" o, as it may be rendered; that is, his raiment, which was commonly taken for a pledge; and, by a law afterwards established in Israel, was obliged to be restored before sunset, that he might have a covering to sleep in, Exodus 22:26;

Exodus 22:26- :.

n משד "per devastationem", some in Munster; "post vastationem", Tigurine version; so Nachmanides Bar Tzemach. o על עני "super inopem", Cocceius, Schultens so Ben Gersom.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

They pluck the fatherless from the breast - That is, they steal away unprotected children, and sell them, or make slaves of them for their own use. If this is the correct interpretation, then there existed at that time, what has existed since, so much to the disgrace of mankind, the custom of kidnapping children, and bearing them away to be sold as slaves. Slavery existed in early ages; and it must have been in some such way that slaves were procured. The wonder of Job is, that such people were permitted to live - that God did not come forth and punish them. The fact still exists, and the ground of wonder is not diminished. Africa bleeds under wrongs of this kind; and the vengeance of heaven seems to sleep, though the child is torn away from its mother, and conveyed, amid many horrors, to a distant land, to wear out life in hopeless servitude.

And take a pledge of the poor - Take that, therefore, which is necessary for the comfort of the poor, and retain it, so that they cannot enjoy its use; see the notes at Job 22:6.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 24:9. They pluck the fatherless from the breast — They forcibly take young children in order that they may bring them up in a state of slavery. This verse is the commencement of a new paragraph, and points out the arbitrary dealings of oppressors, under despotic governors.

Take a pledge of the poor. — Oppressive landlords who let out their grounds at an exorbitant rent, which the poor labourers, though using the utmost diligence, are unable at all times to pay; and then the unfeeling wretch sells then up, as the phrase here is, or takes their cow, their horse, their cart, or their bed, in pledge, that the money shall be paid in such a time. This is one of the crying sins of some countries of Europe.