Job 31:21

Verse Job 31:21. If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless] I have at no time opposed the orphan, nor given, in behalf of the rich and powerful, a decision against the poor, when I saw my help in the gate - when I was sitting chief on the throne of judgment, and could have done it without being called to account.

There are sentiments very like these in the poem of Lebeid, one of the authors of the Moallakhat. I shall quote several verses from the elegant translation of Sir William Jones, in which the character of a charitable and bountiful chief is well described: -

"Oft have I invited a numerous company to the death of a camel bought for slaughter, to be divided with arrows of equal dimensions."

"I invite them to draw lots for a camel without a foal, and for a camel with her young one, whose flesh I distribute to all the neighbours."

"The guest and the stranger admitted to my board seem to have alighted in the sweet vale of Tebaala, luxuriant with vernal blossoms."

"The cords of my tent approaches every needy matron, worn with fatigue, like a camel doomed to die at her master's tomb, whose venture is both scanty and ragged."

"There they crown with meat (while the wintry winds contend with fierce blasts) a dish flowing like a rivulet, into which the famished orphans eagerly plunge."

"He distributes equal shares, he dispenses justice to the tribes, he is indignant when their right is diminished; and, to establish their right, often relinquishes his own."

"He acts with greatness of mind, and nobleness of heart: he sheds the dew of his liberality on those who need his assistance; he scatters around his own gains and precious spoils, the prizes of his valour." - Ver. 73-80.