Job 24:12-22

12 From out of the city the dying groan, and the soul of ¹the wounded cries for help; yet God charges no one with ²wrong.

13 "There are those who rebel ³against the light, who are not acquainted with its ways, and do not stay in its paths.

14 The murderer rises before it is light, that he ⁴may kill the poor and needy, and in the night he is like a thief.

15 The eye of the adulterer also waits for ⁵the twilight, saying, 'No ⁶eye will see me'; and he veils his face.

16 In the dark they ⁷dig through houses; by day they shut themselves up; they do not know the light.

17 For ⁸deep darkness is morning to all of them; for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

18 "You say, ⁹'Swift are they on the face of the waters; their portion is cursed in the land; no treader turns toward their vineyards.

19 Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters; so does ¹⁰Sheol those who have sinned.

20 The womb forgets them; the worm finds them sweet; they are ¹¹no longer remembered, so wickedness is broken like ¹²a tree.'

21 "They wrong the barren, childless woman, and do no good to the widow.

22 Yet God^[a] prolongs the life of the mighty by his power; they rise up when they despair of life.

Job 24:12-22 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

• 1. Jeremiah 51:52; Ezekiel 30:24
• 2. Job 1:22
• 3. John 3:19, 20
• 4. [Psalms 10:8]
• 5. Proverbs 7:9
• 6. Psalms 10:11
• 7. Exodus 22:2; Matthew 6:20; [Job 31:9]
• 8. See Job 3:5
• 9. [Job 9:26; Hosea 10:7]
• 10. See Job 21:13
• 11. [Proverbs 10:7]
• 12. [Job 18:16]

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew he