Job 24:14

14 When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up, kills the poor and needy, and in the night steals forth like a thief.

Job 24:14 in Other Translations

14 The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.

14 The murderer rises before it is light, that he may kill the poor and needy, and in the night he is like a thief.

14 The murderer rises in the early dawn to kill the poor and needy; at night he is a thief.

14 When the sun goes down, the murderer gets up - kills the poor and robs the defenseless.

14 The murderer rises at dawn to kill the poor and needy, and by night he becomes a thief.

Job 24:14 Meaning and Commentary

Job 24:14

The murderer rising with the light
The light of the morning, before the sun is risen, about the time the early traveller is set out on his journey, and men go to distant markets to buy and sell goods, and the poor labourer goes forth to his work; then is the time for one that is used to commit robbery and murder to rise from his bed, or from his lurking place, in a cave or a thicket, where he has lain all night, in order to meet with the above persons: and so

killeth the poor and needy;
takes away from them the little they have, whether money or provisions, and kills them because they have no more, and that they may not be evidence against him; it may be meant of the poor saints and people of God, whom the wicked slay out of hatred to them:

and in the night is as a thief;
kills privately, secretly, at an unawares, as the thief does his work; or the "as" here is not a note of similitude or likeness, but of reality and truth; and so Mr. Broughton renders the words, "and in the night he will be as a thief"; in the morning he is a robber on the highway, and a murderer; all the day he is in his lurking place, in some haunt or another, sleeping or carousing; and when the night comes on, then he acts the part of a thief; in the morning he not only robs, but murders, that he may not be detected; at night he only steals, and not kills, because men are asleep, and see him not.

Job 24:14 In-Context

12 The groans of the dying rise from the city, and the souls of the wounded cry out for help. But God charges no one with wrongdoing.

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.

Cross References

• 1. Isaiah 3:15; Micah 3:3
• 2. S Job 20:19; Psalms 37:32
• 3. Psalms 10:9