Job 24

1 "Why are ¹not times of judgment ²kept by the Almighty, and why do those who know him never see his ³days?

2 Some move ⁴landmarks; they seize flocks and pasture them.

3 They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; they ⁵take the widow's ox for a pledge.

4 They ⁶thrust the poor off the road; the poor of the earth ⁷all hide themselves.

5 Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert the poor^[a]8go out to their toil, ⁹seeking game; the wasteland yields food for their children.

6 They gather their^[b] fodder in the field, and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man.

7 They ¹⁰lie all night naked, without clothing, and have no covering in the cold.

8 They are wet with the rain of the mountains and ¹¹cling to the rock for lack of shelter.

9 (There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast, and they take a pledge against the poor.)

10 They go about naked, without clothing; hungry, they ¹²carry the sheaves;

11 among the olive rows of the wicked^[c] they make oil; they tread the winepresses, but suffer thirst.

12 From out of the city the dying groan, and the soul of ¹³the wounded cries for help; yet God charges no one with ¹⁴wrong.

13 "There are those who rebel ¹⁵against the light, who are not acquainted with its ways, and do not stay in its paths.

14 The murderer rises before it is light, that he ¹⁶may kill the poor and needy, and in the night he is like a thief.

15 The eye of the adulterer also waits for ¹⁷the twilight, saying, 'No ¹⁸eye will see me'; and he veils his face.

16 In the dark they ¹⁹dig through houses; by day they shut themselves up; they do not know the light.

17 For ²⁰deep darkness is morning to all of them; for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

18 "You say, ²¹'Swift are they on the face of the waters; their portion is cursed in the land; no treader turns toward their vineyards.

19 Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters; so does ²²Sheol those who have sinned.

20 The womb forgets them; the worm finds them sweet; they are ²³no longer remembered, so wickedness is broken like ²⁴a tree.'

21 "They wrong the barren, childless woman, and do no good to the widow.

22 Yet God^[d] prolongs the life of the mighty by his power; they rise up when they despair of life.

23 He gives them security, and they are supported, and his ²⁵eyes are upon their ways.

24 They are exalted ²⁶a little while, and then ²⁷are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are ²⁸cut off like the heads of grain.

25 If it is ²⁹not so, who will prove me a liar and show that there is nothing in what I say?"

Job 24 Commentary

Chapter 24

Wickedness often unpunished. (1-12) The wicked shun the light. (13-17) Judgements for the wicked. (18-25)

Verses 1-12 Job discourses further about the prosperity of the wicked. That many live at ease who are ungodly and profane, he had showed, ch. xxi. Here he shows that many who live in open defiance of all the laws of justice, succeed in wicked practices; and we do not see them reckoned with in this world. He notices those that do wrong under pretence of law and authority; and robbers, those that do wrong by force. He says, "God layeth not folly to them;" that is, he does not at once send his judgments, nor make them examples, and so manifest their folly to all the world. But he that gets riches, and not by right, at his end shall be a fool, ( Jeremiah 17:11 ) .

Verses 13-17 See what care and pains wicked men take to compass their wicked designs; let it shame our negligence and slothfulness in doing good. See what pains those take, who make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts of it: pains to compass, and then to hide that which will end in death and hell at last. Less pains would mortify and crucify the flesh, and be life and heaven at last. Shame came in with sin, and everlasting shame is at the end of it. See the misery of sinners; they are exposed to continual frights: yet see their folly; they are afraid of coming under the eye of men, but have no dread of God's eye, which is always upon them: they are not afraid of doing things which they are afraid of being known to do.

Verses 18-25 Sometimes how gradual is the decay, how quiet the departure of a wicked person, how is he honoured, and how soon are all his cruelties and oppressions forgotten! They are taken off with other men, as the harvestman gathers the ears of corn as they come to hand. There will often appear much to resemble the wrong view of Providence Job takes in this chapter. But we are taught by the word of inspiration, that these notions are formed in ignorance, from partial views. The providence of God, in the affairs of men, is in every thing a just and wise providence. Let us apply this whenever the Lord may try us. He cannot do wrong. The unequalled sorrows of the Son of God when on earth, unless looked at in this view, perplex the mind. But when we behold him, as the sinner's Surety, bearing the curse, we can explain why he should endure that wrath which was due to sin, that Divine justice might be satisfied, and his people saved.

Cross References

• 1. Ecclesiastes 9:12; Isaiah 13:22; Jeremiah 27:7; Ezekiel 22:3; Ezekiel 30:3
• 2. Job 15:20
• 3. Joel 2:12">Isa. Joel 2:12; Isaiah 13:6, 9; Joel 1:15; Joel 2:1; Amos 5:18; See Job 18:20
• 4. See Deuteronomy 19:14
• 5. See Job 22:6
• 6. Amos 2:7; Amos 5:12; Malachi 3:5
• 7. Proverbs 28:28; [Job 30:5, 6]
• 8. Psalms 104:23
• 9. Psalms 104:21
• 10. [Exodus 22:26, 27; Deuteronomy 24:12, 13]
• 11. Lamentations 4:5
• 12. [2 Timothy 2:6; James 5:4]
• 13. Jeremiah 51:52; Ezekiel 30:24
• 14. Job 1:22
• 15. John 3:19, 20
• 16. [Psalms 10:8]
• 17. Proverbs 7:9
• 18. Psalms 10:11
• 19. Exodus 22:2; Matthew 6:20; [Job 31:9]
• 20. See Job 3:5
• 21. [Job 9:26; Hosea 10:7]
• 22. See Job 21:13
• 23. [Proverbs 10:7]
• 24. [Job 18:16]
• 25. See Psalms 11:4; Proverbs 15:3
• 26. Psalms 37:10
• 27. [Job 27:19]
• 28. Job 14:2
• 29. [Job 9:24]

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew they
• [b]. Hebrew his
• [c]. Hebrew their olive rows
• [d]. Hebrew he

Chapter Summary

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.