Job 24:3-13

3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless; they take the widow's ox for a pledge.

4 They thrust the poor off the road; the poor of the earth all hide themselves.

5 Behold, like wild asses in the desert they go forth to their toil, seeking prey in the wilderness as food for their children.

6 They gather their fodder in the field and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man.

7 They lie all night naked, without clothing, and have no covering in the cold.

8 They are wet with the rain of the mountains, and cling to the rock for want of shelter.

9 (There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast, and take in pledge the infant of the poor.)

10 They go about naked, without clothing; hungry, they carry the sheaves;

11 among the olive rows of the wicked they make oil; they tread the wine presses, but suffer thirst.

12 From out of the city the dying groan, and the soul of the wounded cries for help; yet God pays no attention to their prayer.

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

Job 24:3-13 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.