Job 31:18

King James Version

(For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;)

Parallel Translations

New Living Translation
No, from childhood I have cared for orphans like a father, and all my life I have cared for widows.

English Revised Version
(Nay, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, and I have been her guide from my mother's womb;)

Update Bible Version
(No, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, And her I have guided from my mother's womb);

New Century Version
Since I was young, I have been like a father to the orphans. From my birth I guided the widows.

New English Translation
but from my youth I raised the orphan like a father, and from my mother's womb I guided the widow!

Webster's Bible Translation
(For from my youth he was brought up with me, as [with] a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;)

World English Bible
(No, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, Her have I guided from my mother's womb);

Amplified Bible
(But from my youth the orphan grew up with me as with a father, And from my mother's womb I have been the widow's guide),

English Standard Version
(for from my youth the fatherless grew up with me as with a father, and from my mother's womb I guided the widow),

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
for merciful doyng encreesside with me fro my yong childhed, and yede out of my modris wombe with me;

Berean Standard Bible
though from my youth I reared him as would a father, and from my mother's womb I guided the widow-

Contemporary English Version
Since the time I was young, I have cared for orphans and helped widows.

American Standard Version
(Nay, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, And her have I guided from my mother's womb);

Bible in Basic English
(For I was cared for by God as by a father from my earliest days; he was my guide from the body of my mother;)

Complete Jewish Bible
No! From my youth he grew up with me as if with a father, and I have been her guide from my mother's womb! —

Darby Translation
(For from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, and I have guided the [widow] from my mother's womb;)

Easy-to-Read Version
All my life I have been like a father to orphans and have taken care of widows.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Nay, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, and I have been her guide from my mother's womb.

King James Version (1611)
(For from my youth hee was brought vp with me as with a father, and I haue guided her from my mothers wombe.)

New Life Bible
(but from the time I was young, he grew up with me as a father, and I have helped the woman without a husband since I was born,)

New Revised Standard
for from my youth I reared the orphan like a father, and from my mother's womb I guided the widow—

Geneva Bible (1587)
(For from my youth hee hath growen vp with me as with a father, and from my mothers wombe I haue bene a guide vnto her)

George Lamsa Translation
(Because from my youth I was brought up in sorrows, and from my mothers womb with sighing);

Good News Translation
All my life I have taken care of them.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Surely, from my youth, he grew up to me, as to a father, and, from my birth, I acted as guide to her:

Douay-Rheims Bible
(For from my infancy mercy grew up with me: and it came out with me from my mother’s womb:)

Revised Standard Version
(for from his youth I reared him as a father, and from his mother's womb I guided him);

Bishop's Bible (1568)
(For from my youth it hath growen vp with me as with a father, and from my mothers wombe I haue ben guyde to the [wydowe])

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
(for I nourished them as a father from my youth and guided them from my mother’s womb.)

Christian Standard Bible®
for from my youth, I raised him as his father,and since the day I was born I guided the widow—

Hebrew Names Version
(No, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, Her have I guided from my mother's womb);

Lexham English Bible
(for from my childhood he grew up with me like a father, and from my mother's womb I guided her),

Literal Translation
for from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, and from my mother's womb I guided her.

Young's Literal Translation
(But from my youth He grew up with me as [with] a father, And from the belly of my mother I am led.)

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
(for mercy grewe vp with me fro my youth, & compassion fro my mothers wombe.)

New American Standard Bible
(But from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, And from my infancy I guided her),

New King James Version
(But from my youth I reared him as a father,And from my mother's womb I guided the widow Job 31:16) ">[fn] );

New American Standard Bible (1995)
(But from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, And from infancy I guided her),

Legacy Standard Bible
(But from my youth he grew up with me as with a father,And from the womb of my mother I guided her),

Contextual Overview

¹⁶ If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; ¹⁷ Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof; ¹⁸ (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;) ¹⁹ If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering; ²⁰ If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; ²¹ If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate: ²² Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone. ²³ For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

her: that is, the widow

Reciprocal: 2 Kings 14:9 - The thistle Job 29:16 - a father Job 31:32 - The stranger Isaiah 58:7 - to deal

Cross-References

Genesis 27:41
And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.

Genesis 28:21
So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God:

Genesis 31:1
And he heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, Jacob hath taken away all that was our father's; and of that which was our father's hath he gotten all this glory.

Genesis 31:2
And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and, behold, it was not toward him as before.

Genesis 31:27
Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and steal away from me; and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth, and with songs, with tabret, and with harp?

Genesis 31:29
It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt: but the God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For from my youth he was brought up with me as [with] a father,.... That is, the poor or the fatherless, one or both; as soon as he was at years of discretion, and was capable of observing the distressed circumstances of others, he had a tender and compassionate regard to the poor and fatherless, and acted the part of a father to them; was as affectionately concerned for them as if he had been their father, and took such care of them as if they were his children; see

Job 29:16;

and I have guided her from my mother's womb; the widow, by his counsel and advice; an hyperbolical expression, signifying how early he was a succourer of such persons, by giving his friendly advice, or needful assistance; the Vulgate Latin version renders it, "from my youth mercy grew up with me", c. a merciful disposition, a compassionate regard to the poor and fatherless this was as it were connatural to him; for though there is no good disposition really in man, without the grace of God, of which Job might early partake, yet there is a show of it in some persons, in comparison of others; some have a natural tender disposition to the poor, when others are naturally cruel and hardhearted to them; and so Mr. Broughton renders the words to this sense,

"for from my youth this grew with me as a father, and from my mother did I tender it:''

but the first sense seems best.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For from my youth he was brought up with me - This verse is usually regarded as a parenthesis, though very various expositions have been given of it. Some have understood it as denying that he had in any way neglected the widow and the fatherless, and affirming that the orphan had always, even from his youth, found a father in him, and the widow a guide. Others, as our translators, suppose that it is a parenthesis thrown in to indicate his general course of life, although the imprecation which he makes on himself, if he had neglected the widow and the orphan, is found in Job 31:22. Luther reads the two previous verses as questions, and this as an answer to them, and so also do Rosenmuller and Noyes. Umbreit regards this verse as a parenthesis. This is probably to be considered as the correct interpretation, for this better agrees with the Hebrew than the other proposed. It implies a denial of having neglected the widow and the orphan, but the full expression of his abhorrence of a charge of having done so, is to be found in the strong language in Job 31:22. The unusual Hebrew word גדלני gâdalniy probably stands for עמי גדל gâdal ‛imy - “he was brought up with me.” This form of the word does not occur elsewhere.

As with a father - That is, he always found in me one who treated him as a father. The meaning is, that he had always had under his care those who were orphans; that from his very youth they had been accustomed to look up to him as a father; and that they had never been disappointed in him. It is the language of one who seems to have been born to rank, and who had the means of benefiting others, and who had done it all his life. This accords also with the Oriental notions of kindness - requiring that it should be shown especially to the widow and the fatherless.

I have guided her - Margin, “That is, the widow.” The meaning is, that he had been her counsellor and friend.

From my mother’s womb - This cannot be literally true, but it means that he had done it from early life; or as we would say, he had always done it.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 31:18. This is a very difficult verse, and is variously translated. Take the following instances: - For from his youth he (the male orphan) was brought up with me as a father. Yea, I have guided her (the female orphan) from her mother's womb. - Heath.

Nam a pueris educavit me commiseratio; jam inde ab utero matris meae illa me deduxit. - Houbigant.

"For commiseration educated me from my childhood;

And she brought me up even from my mother's womb."

This is agreeable to the Vulgate.

"Behold, from my youth calamity hath quickened me;

Even from my mother's womb have I distributed it."

This is Mr. Goods version, and is widely different from the above.

For mercy grewe up with me fro my youth,

And compassion fro my mother's wombe.

Coverdale.

Ὁτι εκ νεοτητος μου εξετρεφον ὡς πατηρ, και εκ γαστρος μητρος μου ὡδηγησα. - Septuagint.

"For from my youth I nourished them as a father; and I was their guide from my mother's womb."

The Syriac. "For from my childhood he educated me in distresses, and from the womb of my mother in groans." The Arabic is nearly the same.

The general meaning may be gathered from the above; but who can reconcile such discordant translations?