Job 24:13-17

13 “There are those who rebel against the light, who do not know its ways or stay in its paths.
14 When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up, kills the poor and needy, and in the night steals forth like a thief.
15 The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk; he thinks, ‘No eye will see me,’ and he keeps his face concealed.
16 In the dark, thieves break into houses, but by day they shut themselves in; they want nothing to do with the light.
17 For all of them, midnight is their morning; they make friends with the terrors of darkness.

Job 24:13-17 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 24

This chapter contains the second part of Job's answer to the last discourse of Eliphaz, in which he shows that wicked men, those of the worst characters, prosper in the world, and go through it with impunity; he lays down this as a certain truth, that though no time is hid from God, yet they that are most familiar with him, and know most of him, do not see, and cannot observe, any days of his for judging and punishing wicked men in, this life, Job 24:1; and instances in men guilty of injustice, violence, oppression, cruelty, and inhumanity, to their neighbours, and yet God lays not folly to them, or charges them with sin, and punishes them for it, Job 24:2-12; and in persons that commit the most atrocious crimes in secret, such as murderers, adulterers, and thieves, Job 24:13-17; he allows that there is a curse upon their portion, and that the grave shall consume them, and they shall be remembered no more, Job 24:18-20; and because of their ill treatment of others, though they may be in safety and prosperity, and be exalted for a while, they shall be brought low and cut off by death, but generally speaking are not punished in this life, Job 24:21-24; and concludes with the greatest assurance of being in the right, and having truth on his side, Job 24:25.

Cross References 12

  • 1. ver 16; Job 38:15; John 3:19-20; 1 Thessalonians 5:4-5
  • 2. Job 17:12; Job 38:20; Psalms 18:28; Isaiah 5:20; Ephesians 5:8-14
  • 3. Isaiah 3:15; Micah 3:3
  • 4. S Job 20:19; Psalms 37:32
  • 5. Psalms 10:9
  • 6. Job 31:9,27; Proverbs 1:10
  • 7. Proverbs 7:8-9
  • 8. Psalms 10:11
  • 9. S Exodus 22:2; Matthew 6:19
  • 10. S ver 13; John 3:20
  • 11. S Job 18:11
  • 12. S Job 15:22; S Job 18:5
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