Job 24:7-17

7 They leave men naked, and take away their clothes, to the which men there is no covering in cold; (They leave people naked, having taken away their clothes, for whom then there is no more cover from the cold;)

8 which men the rains of mountains wet, and they have no covering, and they embrace stones. (they be drenched by rains from the mountains, and have nothing to cover themselves with, and so all they can do is hold onto stones.)

9 They did violence, and robbed fatherless and motherless children; and they spoiled, either robbed, the community of poor men (and they stole from, or plundered, the poor).

10 They took away ears of corn from naked men, and (those) going without cloak, and from hungry men. (They took away clothes from those who now must go naked, and ears of corn from the hungry.)

11 They were hid in midday among the heaps of those men, that thirst, when the presses of grapes be trodden. (They make oil in shady places, and tread the winepresses, but they themselves suffer thirst.)

12 They made men of (the) cities to wail, and the souls of wounded men shall cry; and God suffereth it not to go away unpunished. (In the cities men wail, and the souls of the wounded cry out; but God alloweth them not to go away unpunished.)

13 They were rebel to (the) light; they knew not the ways thereof, neither they turned again by the paths thereof. (They rebelled against the light; they knew not its ways, nor they walked by its paths.)

14 A manslayer riseth full early, and slayeth a needy man, and a poor man; and by night he shall be as a night thief. (The murderer riseth very early, and killeth the needy and the poor; and in the night he shall be a thief.)

15 The eye of [the] adulterer keepeth darkness, and saith, An eye shall not see me; and he shall cover his face. (The eye of the adulterer waiteth for the darkness, and saith, No eye shall see me; but he shall still cover his face.)

16 They (under)mine houses in darknesses, as they said together to themselves in the day; and they knew not light. (They break into houses in the night, like they said that they would during the day; and they know not, or avoid, the light.)

17 If the morrowtide appeareth suddenly, they deem it the shadow of death; and so they go in (the) darknesses, as in (the) light.

Job 24:7-17 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.