Job 24:9

“They pluck the fatherless from the breast, etc.] 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 f899,” or devastation, through the plunder of his father’s substance now dead,…”

“from the breast--of the widowed mother. Kidnapping children for slaves. Here Job passes from wrongs in the desert to those done among the habitations of men. pledge--namely, the garment of the poor debtor, as Job 24:10 shows.”

“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…”

“They - The oppressors. Pluck - Out of covetousness; they will not allow the mother time for the suckling of her infant. Job 24:10”

“24:9 widow’s child . . . security for a loan: See 2 Kgs 4:1; Neh 5:1-5; Matt 18:25.”

“Kg2 4:1; Neh 5:5 Job 24:10”

“9 They tear the fatherless from the breast, And defraud the poor. 10 Naked, they slink away without clothes, And hungering they bear the sheaves. 11 Between their walls they squeeze out the oil; They tread the wine-presses, and suffer thirst. 12 In the city vassals groan, And the soul of the oppressed crieth out - And Eloah heedeth not the anomaly. The accentuation of Job 24:9 (יגזלו with Dech, משׁד with Munach) makes the relation of שׁד יתום genitival. Heidenheim (in a MS annotation to Kimchi's Lex.) accordingly badly interprets: they plunder from the spoil of the orphan; Ramban better: from the ruin, i.e., the shattered patrimony; both appeal to the Targum, which translates מביזת יתום,…”