Job 24:13-23

13 There are those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.

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

15 And the eye of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me; and he putteth a covering on [his] face.

16 In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves in; they know not the light:

17 For the morning is to them all [as] the shadow of death; for they are familiar with the terrors of the shadow of death.

18 He is swift on the face of the waters; their portion is cursed on the earth: he turneth not unto the way of the vineyards.

19 Drought and heat consume snow waters; so doth Sheol those that have sinned.

20 The womb forgetteth him; the worm feedeth sweetly on him: he shall be no more remembered; and unrighteousness is broken as a tree, --

21 He that despoileth the barren that beareth not, and doeth not good to the widow:

22 He draweth also the mighty with his power; he riseth up, and no [man] is sure of life.

23 God] setteth him in safety, and he resteth thereon; but his eyes are upon their ways.

Job 24:13-23 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Some render it, 'that they had marked in the daytime.'