Job 24

14. with the light--at early dawn, while still dark, when the traveller in the East usually sets out, and the poor laborer to his work; the murderous robber lies in wait then ( Psalms 10:8 ).
is as a thief--Thieves in the East steal while men sleep at night; robbers murder at early dawn. The same man who steals at night, when light dawns not only robs, but murders to escape detection.

15. ( Proverbs 7:9 , Psalms 10:11 ).
disguiseth--puts a veil on.

16. dig through--Houses in the East are generally built of sun-dried mud bricks (so Matthew 6:19 ). "Thieves break through," literally, "dig through" ( Ezekiel 12:7 ).
had marked--Rather, as in Job 9:7 , "They shut themselves up" (in their houses); literally, "they seal up."
for themselves--for their own ends, namely, to escape detection.
know not--shun.

17. They shrink from the "morning" light, as much as other men do from the blackest darkness ("the shadow of death").
if one know--that is, recognize them. Rather, "They know well (are familiar with) the terrors of," &c. [UMBREIT]. Or, as MAURER, "They know the terrors of (this) darkness," namely, of morning, the light, which is as terrible to them as darkness ("the shadow of death") is to other men.

18-21. In these verses Job quotes the opinions of his adversaries ironically; he quoted them so before. In Job 24:22-24 , he states his own observation as the opposite. You say, "The sinner is swift, that is, swiftly passes away (as a thing floating) on the surface of the waters" ( Ecclesiastes 11:1 , Hosea 10:7 ).
is cursed--by those who witness their "swift" destruction.
beholdeth not--"turneth not to"; figuratively, for He cannot enjoy his pleasant possessions ( Job 20:17 , 15:33 ).
the way of the vineyards--including his fields, fertile as vineyards; opposite to "the way of the desert."

19. Arabian image; melted snow, as contrasted with the living fountain, quickly dries up in the sunburnt sand, not leaving a trace behind ( Job 6:16-18 ). The Hebrew is terse and elliptical to express the swift and utter destruction of the godless; (so) "the grave--they have sinned!"

20. The womb--The very mother that bare him, and who is the last to "forget" the child that sucked her ( Isaiah 49:15 ), shall dismiss him from her memory ( Job 18:17 , Proverbs 10:7 ). The worm shall suck, that is, "feed sweetly" on him as a delicate morsel ( Job 21:33 ).
wickedness--that is, the wicked; abstract for concrete (as Job 5:16 ).
as a tree--utterly ( Job 19:10 ); UMBREIT better, "as a staff." A broken staff is the emblem of irreparable ruin ( Isaiah 14:5 , Hosea 4:12 ).

21. The reason given by the friends why the sinner deserves such a fate.
barren--without sons, who might have protected her.
widow--without a husband to support her.

22-25. Reply of Job to the opinion of the friends. Experience proves the contrary. Translate: "But He (God) prolongeth the life of (literally, draweth out at length; Psalms 36:10 , Margin) the mighty with His (God's) power. He (the wicked) riseth up (from his sick bed) although he had given up hope of (literally, when he no longer believed in) life" ( Deuteronomy 28:66 ).

23. Literally, "He (God omitted, as often; Job 3:20 , Ecclesiastes 9:9 ; reverentially) giveth to him (the wicked, to be) in safety, or security."
yet--Job means, How strange that God should so favor them, and yet have His eyes all the time open to their wicked ways ( Proverbs 15:3 , Psalms 73:4 )!

24. Job repeats what he said ( Job 21:13 ), that sinners die in exalted positions, not the painful and lingering death we might expect, but a quick and easy death. Join "for a while" with "are gone," not as English Version. Translate: "A moment--and they are no more! They are brought low, as all (others) gather up their feet to die." A natural death ( Genesis 49:33 ).
ears of corn--in a ripe and full age, not prematurely \ ( Job 5:26 ).

25. (So Job 9:24 ).