Job 24:4

4 The poor are pushed off the path; the needy must hide together for safety.

Job 24:4 Meaning and Commentary

Job 24:4

They turn the needy out of the way
Either, in a moral sense, out of the right way, the way of righteousness and truth, by their bad examples, or by their threatenings or flatteries; or, in a civil sense, out of the way of their livelihood, by taking that from them by which they got it; or, in a literal sense, obliging them to turn out of the way from them, in a supercilious and haughty manner, or causing them, through fear of them, to get out of the way, that they might not meet them, lest they should insult them, beat and abuse them, or take that little from them they had, as follows:

the poor of the earth hide themselves together;
who are not only poor in purse, but poor in spirit, meek, humble, and lowly, and have not spirit and courage to stand against such oppressors, but are easily crushed by them; these through fear of them hide themselves in holes and corners in a body, in a large company together, lest they should fall into their cruel hands, and be used by them in a barbarous manner, see ( Proverbs 28:28 ) .

Job 24:4 In-Context

2 Evil people steal land by moving the boundary markers. They steal livestock and put them in their own pastures.
3 They take the orphan’s donkey and demand the widow’s ox as security for a loan.
4 The poor are pushed off the path; the needy must hide together for safety.
5 Like wild donkeys in the wilderness, the poor must spend all their time looking for food, searching even in the desert for food for their children.
6 They harvest a field they do not own, and they glean in the vineyards of the wicked.
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