Ayub 31:18

31:18 but from my youth I raised the orphan ¹  like a father,

and from my mother’s womb ² 

I guided the widow! ³ 

Yesaya 49:21

49:21 Then you will think to yourself, ⁴ 

‘Who bore these children for me?

I was bereaved and barren,

dismissed and divorced. ⁵ 

Who raised these children?

Look, I was left all alone;

where did these children come from?’”

[31:18]  ¹ tn Heb “he grew up with me.” Several commentators have decided to change the pronoun to “I,” and make it causative.

[31:18]  ² tn The expression “from my mother’s womb” is obviously hyperbolic. It is a way of saying “all his life.”

[31:18]  ³ tn Heb “I guided her,” referring to the widow mentioned in v. 16.

[49:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “and you will say in your heart.”

[49:21]  ⁵ tn Or “exiled and thrust away”; NIV “exiled and rejected.”