Job 24:1-25

  • Job’s reply continues (1-25)

    • ‘Why does God not set a time?’ (1)

    • Says that God permits wickedness (12)

    • Sinners love darkness (13-17)

24  “Why does the Almighty not set a time?+ Why do those who know him not see his day?*   People move boundary markers;+They carry off flocks for their own pasture.   They drive away the donkey of fatherless childrenAnd seize the widow’s bull as security for a loan.*+   They force the poor off the road;The helpless of the earth must hide from them.+   The poor forage for food like wild donkeys+ in the wilderness;They seek food in the desert for their children.   They must harvest in another’s field*And glean from the vineyard of the wicked.   They spend the night naked, without clothing;+They have no covering for the cold.   They are drenched by the mountain rains;They cling to the rocks for lack of shelter.   The fatherless child is snatched away from the breast;+And the garments of the poor are taken as security for a loan,+ 10  Forcing them to go about naked, without clothing,And hungry, as they carry the sheaves of grain. 11  They toil among the terrace walls in the heat of the day;*They tread the winepresses, yet they go thirsty.+ 12  The dying keep groaning in the city;The fatally wounded* cry for help,+But God does not regard this as improper.* 13  There are those who rebel against light;+They do not recognize its ways,And they do not follow its paths. 14  The murderer rises at daybreak;He slays the helpless and the poor,+While at night he engages in theft. 15  The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight,+Saying, ‘No one will see me!’+ And he covers his face. 16  In the darkness they break into* houses;By day they shut themselves in. They are strangers to the light.+ 17  For morning is the same as deep darkness for them;They are familiar with the terrors of deep darkness. 18  But they are swiftly carried away by the waters.* Their portion of the land will be cursed.+ They will not return to their vineyards. 19  Just as drought and heat take away the melted snow,The Grave* takes away those who have sinned!+ 20  His mother* will forget him; the maggot will feast on him. He will be remembered no more.+ And unrighteousness will be broken just like a tree. 21  He preys on the barren woman,And mistreats the widow. 22  God* will use his strength to do away with the powerful;Though they may rise up, they have no assurance of life. 23  God* lets them become confident and secure,+But his eyes are on everything they do.*+ 24  They are exalted for a little while, then they are no more.+ They are brought low+ and gathered like everyone else;They are cut off like heads of grain. 25  Now who can prove me a liarOr refute my word?”

Footnotes

That is, his day of judgment.
Or “as a pledge.”
Or possibly, “harvest fodder in the field.”
Or possibly, “they press out oil among the terrace walls.”
Or “souls of the wounded.”
Or possibly, “God charges no one with wrong.”
Lit., “dig into.”
Lit., “He is swift on the surface of the waters.”
Or “Sheol,” that is, the common grave of mankind. See Glossary.
Lit., “The womb.”
Lit., “He.”
Lit., “He.”
Lit., “on their ways.”