Job 24

1 "Why doesn't the Almighty set aside times [for punishment]? Why don't those who are close to him see his days [of judgment]?

2 "[People] move boundary markers. They steal flocks and tend them as shepherds.

3 They drive away the orphan's donkey. They take the widow's ox as security for a loan.

4 They force needy people off the road. All the poor people of the country go into hiding.

5 Like wild donkeys in the desert, poor people go out to do their work, looking for food. The plains provide food for their children.

6 They harvest animal food in the field [to feed themselves]. They pick the leftover grapes in the wicked person's vineyard.

7 All night they lie naked without a covering from the cold.

8 They are drenched by the rainstorms in the mountains. They hug the rocks because they can't find shelter.

9 "[People] snatch the [nursing] orphan from a breast and take a poor woman's baby as security for a loan.

10 [That is why] the poor go around naked. They are hungry, yet they carry bundles of grain.

11 They press out olive oil between rows [of olive trees]. They stomp on grapes in wine vats, yet they are thirsty.

12 Those dying in the city groan. Wounded people cry for help, but God pays no attention to their prayers.

13 "Such people are among those who rebel against the light. They are not acquainted with its ways. They do not stay on its paths.

14 At dawn murderers rise; they kill the poor and needy. At night they become thieves.

15 Adulterers watch for twilight. They say, 'No one is watching us,' as they cover their faces.

16 In the dark, they break into houses, [but] by day they lock themselves in. They do not [even] know the light,

17 because morning and deep darkness are the same to them, because they are familiar with the terrors of deep darkness.

18 Such people are like scum on the surface of the water. Their property is cursed in the land. People do not travel the road that goes to their vineyards.

19 [Just as] drought and heat steal water from snow, so the grave steals people who sin.

20 The womb forgets them. Worms feast on them. No one remembers them anymore, and wickedness is snapped like a twig.

21 These men take advantage of childless women. These men show no kindness to widows.

22 [God] will drag away [these] mighty men by his power. These people may prosper, but they will never feel secure about life.

23 [God] may let them feel confident and self-reliant, but his eyes are on their ways.

24 [Such people] may be prosperous for a little while, but then they're gone. They are brought down low and disappear like everything else. They wither like heads of grain.

25 "If it isn't so, who can prove I'm a liar and show that my words are worthless?"

Job 24 Commentary

Chapter 24

Wickedness often unpunished. (1-12) The wicked shun the light. (13-17) Judgements for the wicked. (18-25)

Verses 1-12 Job discourses further about the prosperity of the wicked. That many live at ease who are ungodly and profane, he had showed, ch. xxi. Here he shows that many who live in open defiance of all the laws of justice, succeed in wicked practices; and we do not see them reckoned with in this world. He notices those that do wrong under pretence of law and authority; and robbers, those that do wrong by force. He says, "God layeth not folly to them;" that is, he does not at once send his judgments, nor make them examples, and so manifest their folly to all the world. But he that gets riches, and not by right, at his end shall be a fool, ( Jeremiah 17:11 ) .

Verses 13-17 See what care and pains wicked men take to compass their wicked designs; let it shame our negligence and slothfulness in doing good. See what pains those take, who make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts of it: pains to compass, and then to hide that which will end in death and hell at last. Less pains would mortify and crucify the flesh, and be life and heaven at last. Shame came in with sin, and everlasting shame is at the end of it. See the misery of sinners; they are exposed to continual frights: yet see their folly; they are afraid of coming under the eye of men, but have no dread of God's eye, which is always upon them: they are not afraid of doing things which they are afraid of being known to do.

Verses 18-25 Sometimes how gradual is the decay, how quiet the departure of a wicked person, how is he honoured, and how soon are all his cruelties and oppressions forgotten! They are taken off with other men, as the harvestman gathers the ears of corn as they come to hand. There will often appear much to resemble the wrong view of Providence Job takes in this chapter. But we are taught by the word of inspiration, that these notions are formed in ignorance, from partial views. The providence of God, in the affairs of men, is in every thing a just and wise providence. Let us apply this whenever the Lord may try us. He cannot do wrong. The unequalled sorrows of the Son of God when on earth, unless looked at in this view, perplex the mind. But when we behold him, as the sinner's Surety, bearing the curse, we can explain why he should endure that wrath which was due to sin, that Divine justice might be satisfied, and his people saved.

Chapter Summary

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.