Bible Strands
Job 22:7
You gave no water to the weary and withheld food from the famished,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Eliphaz addresses Job during a formal accusation, positioning himself as a prosecutor detailing specific social crimes. He delivers this charge within a broader speech that lists alleged violations of covenant community standards.
The words — The terms מַיִם (mayim, water) and לֶחֶם (lechem, bread) denote the basic necessities denied. The verbs תַּשְׁקֶה (tashkeh, you have given to drink) and תִּמְנַע (timna, you have withheld) establish the accusation as active refusal rather than passive circumstance.
The thread — The denial of sustenance appears in Job 31:17 as part of Job's self-examination, is commanded in Isaiah 58:7 as a requirement for true worship, and is cited in Matthew 25:42 as a test of treatment toward the marginalized.
Why it lands — The verse states a direct accusation that the listener actively refused water and bread to the exhausted and hungry. It requires a reader to determine whether their own conduct withholds physical provision from those in immediate need.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.
Cross-references
- Job 31:17 if I have eaten my morsel alone, not sharing it with the fatherless—
- Isaiah 58:7 Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your home, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
- Matthew 25:42 For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink,
- Ezekiel 18:7 He does not oppress another, but restores the pledge to the debtor. He does not commit robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing.
- Ezekiel 18:16 He does not oppress another, or retain a pledge, or commit robbery. He gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing.
- Deuteronomy 15:7 If there is a poor man among your brothers within any of the gates in the land that the LORD your God is giving you, then you are not to harden your heart or shut your hand from your poor brother.
- Job 31:31 if the men of my house have not said, ‘Who is there who has not had his fill?’—
- Psalms 112:9 He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever; his horn will be lifted high in honor.
- Proverbs 11:24 One gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds what is right, only to become poor.
- Proverbs 19:17 Kindness to the poor is a loan to the LORD, and He will repay the lender.