Thomas Aquinas, on Job 29:16

“I was the father of the poor: and the cause which I knew not, I searched out most diligently.”

“He also cared for those who were defenseless, and so he says, "I was a father to the poor," for I protected and supported them. Sometimes there are those who wound the poor, the powerless, and the simple calumniously by fraud. He shows a diligent interest against the calumnious process of evil men, and so he says, "And the case of which I was ignorant, I diligently investigated," so that there would lie no fraud hidden there.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.