Job 24:14-24

14 But having known their works, he delivered them into darkness: and in the night one will be as a thief:

15 and the eye of the adulterer has watched the darkness, saying, Eye shall not perceive me, and he puts a covering on his face.

16 In darkness he digs through houses: by day they conceal themselves securely: they know not the light.

17 For the morning is to them all the shadow of death, for will be conscious of the terror of the shadow of death.

18 He is swift on the face of the water: let his portion be cursed on the earth; and let their plants be laid bare.

19 withered upon the earth; for they have plundered the sheaves of the fatherless.

20 Then is his sin brought to remembrance, and he vanishes like a vapour of dew: but let what he has done be recompensed to him, and let every unrighteous one be crushed like rotten wood.

21 For he has not treated the barren woman well, and has had no pity on a feeble woman.

22 And in wrath he has overthrown the helpless: therefore when he has arisen, will not feel secure of his own life.

23 When he has fallen sick, let him not hope to recover: but let him perish by disease.

24 For his exaltation has hurt many; but he has withered as mallows in the heat, or as an ear of corn falling off of itself from the stalk.

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.