Job 24:13-23

13 They are among those that rebel against the light; they have never known its ways nor abided in its paths.

14 The murderer rises with the light, kills the poor and the needy, and in the night is as a thief.

15 The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me; and disguises his face.

16 In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime; they do not know the light.

17 For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death; if they are known, the terrors of the shadow of death come over them.

18 They are swift upon the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth; they never come by the way of the vineyards.

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

20 The Merciful One shall forget them; the worm shall feed sweetly on them; they shall never be remembered again; and iniquity shall be broken as a tree.

21 He afflicted the barren woman that did not conceive and never did good unto the widow.

22 He furthered the violent with his power; he did not lend to anyone in his life.

23 If he gave credit to some to take them over, his eyes were upon their ways.

Job 24:13-23 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.