Job 24:1-9

1 "Why are times not kept by the Almighty, and why do those who know him never see his days?
2 The wicked remove landmarks; they seize flocks and pasture them.
3 They drive away the donkey of the orphan; they take the widow's ox for a pledge.
4 They thrust the needy off the road; the poor of the earth all hide themselves.
5 Like wild asses in the desert they go out to their toil, scavenging in the wasteland food for their young.
6 They reap in a field not their own and they glean in the vineyard of the wicked.
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 orphan child from the breast, and take as a pledge the infant of the poor.

Job 24:1-9 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.

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Traditional rendering of Heb [Shaddai]
  • [b]. Gk: Heb [they]
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.