Job 24:11-21

11 They make oil within the walls of these men. They tread wine presses, and suffer thirst.

12 From out of the populous city, men groan. The soul of the wounded cries out, Yet God doesn't regard the folly.

13 "These are of those who rebel against the light; They don't know the ways of it, Nor abide in the paths of it.

14 The murderer rises with the light. He kills the poor and needy. In the night he is like a thief.

15 The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, Saying, 'No eye shall see me.' He disguises his face.

16 In the dark they dig through houses. They shut themselves up in the daytime. They don't know the light.

17 For the morning is to all of them like thick darkness, For they know the terrors of the thick darkness.

18 "They are foam on the surface of the waters. Their portion is cursed in the earth: They don't turn into the way of the vineyards.

19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters; So does Sheol those who have sinned.

20 The womb shall forget him. The worm shall feed sweetly on him. He shall be no more remembered. Unrighteousness shall be broken as a tree.

21 He devours the barren who don't bear. He shows no kindness to the widow.

Job 24:11-21 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.