*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
If I have seen any perish - He turns to another virtue of the same general class - that of providing for the poor. The meaning is clear, that he had always assisted the poor and needy.
If I have seen any perish for want of clothing,.... A man may be in such poor circumstances as to want proper clothing to cover his naked body with, and preserve it from the inclemencies of the weather, and for want of it be ready to perish or die with cold. Job denies he had seen any such; not that he had never seen persons in such perishing circumstances; but he had not seen them as to "despise" them, as the Vulgate Latin version, as to have them in contempt, or look at them with disdain because of their poverty and rags, or sordid apparel; or so as to "overlook" them, as the Septuagint version, to neglect them, and to take no notice of them, and make no provision for their clothing, a warm and comfortable garment, as in Job 31:20,
or any poor without covering; without clothing sufficient to cover himself with, and keep him warm; Job had seen such objects, but he did not leave them in such a condition; he saw them, and had compassion on them, and clothed them.
perish--that is, ready to perish (Job 29:13).
19 If I saw one perishing without clothing,
And that the needy had no covering;
20 If his loins blessed me not,
And he did not warm himself from the hide of my lambs;
21 If I have lifted up my hand over the orphan,
Because I saw my help in the gate:
22 Let my shoulder fall out of its shoulder-blade,
And mine arm be broken from its bone;
23 For terror would come upon me, the destruction of God,
And before His majesty I should not be able to stand.
On אובד comp. on Job 4:11; Job 29:13; he who is come down from his right place and is perishing (root בד, to separate, still perfectly visible through the Arab. bâda, ba‛ida, to perish), or also he who is already perished, periens and perditus. The clause, Job 31:19, forms the second obj. to אם אראה, which otherwise signifies si video, but here, in accordance with the connection, signifies si videbam. The blessing of the thankful (Job 29:13) is transferred from the person to the limbs in Job 31:20, which need and are benefited by the warmth imparted. אם־לא here is not an expression of an affirmative asseveration, but a negative turn to the continuation of the hypothetical antecedents. The shaking, הניף, of the hand, Job 31:21, is intended, like Isaiah 11:15; Isaiah 19:16 (comp. the Pilel, Isaiah 10:32), Zac 2:13, as a preparation for a crushing stroke. Job refrained himself from such designs upon the defenceless orphan, even when he saw his help in the gate, i.e., before the tribunal (Job 29:7), i.e., even when he had a certain prospect or powerful assistance there. If he has acted otherwise, his כּתף, i.e., his upper arm together with the shoulder, must fall out from its שׁכם, i.e., the back which bears it together with the shoulder-blades, and his אזרע, upper and lower arm, which is considered here according to its outward flesh, must be broken out of its קנה, tube, i.e., the reed-like hollow bone which gives support to it, i.e., be broken asunder from its basis (Syr. a radice sua), this sinning arm, which did not compassionate the naked, and mercilessly threatened the defenceless and helpless. The ת raphatum which follows in both cases, and the express testimony of the Masora, show that משּׁכמה and מקּנה have no Mappik. The He quiescens, however, is in both instances softened from the He mappic. of the suff., Ew. 21,f. פּחד in Job 31:23 is taken by most expositors as predicate: for terror is (was) to me evil as God, the righteous judge, decrees it. But אלי is not favourable to this. It establishes the particular thing which he imprecates upon himself, and that consequently which, according to his own conviction and perception, ought justly to overtake him out of the general mass, viz., that terror ought to come upon him, a divine decreed weight of affliction. איד אל is a permutative of פחד = פחד אלהים, and אלי with Dech equivalent to אלי (יבא) יהיה, comp. Jeremiah 2:19 (where it is to be interpreted: and that thou lettest no fear before me come over thee). Thus also Job 31:23 is suitably connected with the preceding: and I should not overcome His majesty, i.e., I should succumb to it. The מן corresponds to the prae in praevalerem; שׂאת (lxx falsely, λῆμμα, judgment, decision = משׂא, Jeremiah. pondus) is not intended otherwise than Job 13:11 (parall. פחד as here).
Perish - When it was in my power to help them.
*More commentary available at chapter level.