Job 24:18-25

18 The wicked are swept away by floods, and the land they own is under God's curse; they no longer go to work in their vineyards.
19 As snow vanishes in heat and drought, so sinners vanish from the land of the living.
20 Not even their mothers remember them now; they are eaten by worms and destroyed like fallen trees.
21 That happens because they mistreated widows and showed no kindness to childless women.
22 God, in his strength, destroys the mighty; God acts - and the wicked die.
23 God may let them live secure, but keeps an eye on them all the time.
24 For a while the wicked prosper, but then they wither like weeds, like stalks of grain that have been cut down.
25 Can anyone deny that this is so? Can anyone prove that my words are not true?

Job 24:18-25 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.

Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.