Job 24
KJV
1Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days? 2Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof. 3They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow’s ox for a pledge. 4They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together. 5Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children. 6They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked. 7They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold. 8They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter. 9They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor. 10They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry; 11Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst. 12Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.
13They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof. 14The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief. 15The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face. 16In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light. 17For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.
18He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards. 19Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned. 20The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree. 21He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow. 22He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life. 23Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon their ways. 24They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn. 25And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?
Introduction
Job 24
Job having by his complaints in the foregoing chapter given vent to his passion, and thereby gained some ease, breaks them off abruptly, and now applies himself to a further discussion of the doctrinal controversy between him and his friends concerning the prosperity of wicked people. That many live at ease who yet are ungodly and profane, and despise all the exercises of devotion, he had shown, ch. 21. Now here he goes further, and shows that many who are mischievous to mankind, and live in open defiance to all the laws of justice and common honesty, yet thrive and succeed in their unrighteous practices; and we do not see them reckoned with in this world. What he had said before (Job 12:6), "The tabernacles of robbers prosper," he here enlarges upon. He lays down his general proposition (Job 24:1), that the punishment of wicked people is not so visible and apparent as his friends supposed, and then proves it by an induction of particulars. I. Those that openly do wrong to their poor neighbours are not reckoned with, nor the injured righted (Job 24:2-12), though the former are very barbarous (Job 24:21, Job 24:22). II. Those that secretly practise mischief often go undiscovered and unpunished (Job 24:13-17). III. That God punished such by secret judgments and reserves them for future judgments (Job 24:18-20, and Job 24:23-25), so that, upon the whole matter, we cannot say that all who are in trouble are wicked; for it is certain that all who are in prosperity are not righteous.
Cross-references: Job 12:6 · Job 24:1 · Job 24:2 · Job 24:21 · Job 24:22 · Job 24:13 · Job 24:18 · Job 24:23