John Gill Commentary Job 6:27

"Yea, ye would cast [lots] upon the fatherless, And make merchandise of your friend." — Job 6:27 (ASV)

Yea, you overwhelm the fatherless
Meaning himself; who was like a fatherless child, stripped of all his mercies, of his children, his substance, and his health; and was in a most miserable, helpless, and forlorn condition; and, moreover, deprived of the gracious presence and visible protection of his heavenly Father, being given up for a while into the hands of Satan; and now it was unkind and barbarous to overwhelm such a man, who was overwhelmed with overmuch sorrow already:

or, "you cause to fall upon the fatherless"; either their wrath and anger, as the Targum and many others ^F4 instead of doing him justice; or a wall, or any such thing, to crush him, as Aben Ezra; or a lot, as Simeon bar Tzemach; see (Joel 3:3) ; or rather a net, or a snare to entrap him in, seeking to entangle him in talk, so Mr. Broughton, which agrees with what follows:

and you dig [a pit] for your friend ;
contrive mischief against him; sought to bring him to ruin; and which is aggravated by his having been their old friend, with whom they lived in strict friendship, and had professed much unto, and still pretended to have respect for; the allusion is to digging of pits for the catching of wild beasts: some render it, "you feast upon your friend" ^F5 ; so the word is used in (2 Kings 6:23) (Job 41:6) ; this sense is taken notice of by Aben Ezra and Bar Tzemach; and then the meaning is, you rejoice at the misery of your friend; you mock him and that, and insult him in his distress, with which the Septuagint version agrees; which was cruel usage.

---

FOOTNOTES:

• F4: iram", Vatablus, Mercerus, Cocceius; so Jarchi and Sephorno.
• F5: epulamini", Piscator; so Beza, Gussetius.