Job 24:4

4 They have turned aside the weak from the right way: and the meek of the earth have hidden themselves together.

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 while the ungodly have passed over the bound, carrying off the flock with the shepherd?

3 They have led away, the ass of the fatherless, and taken the widow's ox for a pledge.

4 They have turned aside the weak from the right way: and the meek of the earth have hidden themselves together.

5 And they have departed like asses in the field, having gone forth on my account according to their own order: his bread is sweet to little ones.

6 They have reaped a field that was not their own before the time: the poor have laboured in the vineyards of the ungodly without pay and without food.