Job 24:14-24

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.

Job 24:14-24 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.