Job 24:9

The fatherless child is snatched ¹  from the breast, ²  the infant of the poor is taken as a pledge. ³ 

The fatherless child is snatched from the breast; the infant of the poor is seized for a debt.

"Others snatch the orphan from the breast, And against the poor they take a pledge.

"The wicked snatch a widow’s child from her breast; they take the baby as a pledge for a loan.

Nursing mothers have their babies snatched from them; the infants of the poor are kidnapped and sold.

The child without a father is forced from its mother’s breast, and they take the young children of the poor for debt.

"There are those who snatch the orphan child from the breast, and take as a pledge the infant of the poor.

" Some snatch the fatherless from the breast, And take a pledge from the poor.

The fatherless child is snatched ¹  from the breast, ²  the infant of the poor is taken as a pledge. ³ 

¹ tn The verb with no expressed subject is here again taken in the passive: “they snatch” becomes “[child] is snatched.”

² tn This word is usually defined as “violence; ruin.” But elsewhere it does mean “breast” (Isa 60:16; 66:11), and that is certainly what it means here.

³ tc The MT has a very brief and strange reading: “they take as a pledge upon the poor.” This could be taken as “they take a pledge against the poor” (ESV). Kamphausen suggested that instead of עַל (’al, “against”) one should read עוּל (’ul, “suckling”). This is supported by the parallelism. “They take as pledge” is also made passive here.