Job 24:4

4 They push the needy off the road and force all the poor of the land into hiding.

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 Men move boundary stones; they pasture stolen flocks.

3 They drive away the donkey of the fatherless and take the widow’s ox in pledge.

4 They push the needy off the road and force all the poor of the land into hiding.

5 Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go to work foraging for food; the wasteland is food for their children.

6 They gather fodder in the fields and glean the vineyards of the wicked.