Job 24
Holman Christian Standard Bible
24 Why does the Almighty not reserve times for judgment?(A)
Why do those who know Him never see His days?
2 The wicked displace boundary markers.
They steal a flock and provide pasture for it.
3 They drive away the donkeys owned by the fatherless(B)
and take the widow’s ox as collateral.
4 They push the needy off the road;
the poor of the land are forced into hiding.(C)
5 Like wild donkeys in the desert,
the poor go out to their task of foraging for food;
the wilderness provides nourishment for their children.
6 They gather their fodder in the field
and glean the vineyards of the wicked.
7 Without clothing, they spend the night naked,
having no covering against the cold.(D)
8 Drenched by mountain rains,
they huddle against[a] the rocks, shelterless.
9 The fatherless infant is snatched from the breast;
the nursing child of the poor is seized as collateral.[b]
10 Without clothing, they wander about naked.
They carry sheaves but go hungry.(E)
11 They crush olives in their presses;[c]
they tread the winepresses, but go thirsty.
12 From the city, men[d] groan;
the mortally wounded cry for help,
yet God pays no attention to this crime.(F)
13 The wicked are those who rebel against the light.
They do not recognize its ways
or stay on its paths.
14 The murderer rises at dawn
to kill the poor and needy,
and by night he becomes a thief.
15 The adulterer’s eye watches for twilight,
thinking: No eye will see me;
he covers his face.
16 In the dark they break[e] into houses;
by day they lock themselves in,[f]
never experiencing the light.
17 For the morning is like darkness to them.
Surely they are familiar with the terrors of darkness!
18 They float[g] on the surface of the water.
Their section of the land is cursed,
so that they never go to their vineyards.
19 As dry ground and heat snatch away the melted snow,
so Sheol(G) steals those who have sinned.
20 The womb forgets them;
worms feed on them;
they are remembered(H) no more.
So injustice is broken like a tree.
21 They prey on[h] the childless woman who is unable to conceive,
and do not deal kindly with the widow.
22 Yet God drags away[i] the mighty by His power;
when He rises up, they have no assurance of life.
23 He gives them a sense of security, so they can rely on it,(I)
but His eyes(J) watch over their ways.
24 They are exalted for a moment, then they are gone;
they are brought low and shrivel up like everything else.[j]
They wither like heads of grain.(K)
25 If this is not true, then who can prove me a liar(L)
and show that my speech is worthless?
Footnotes
- Job 24:8 Lit they embrace
- Job 24:9 Text emended; MT reads breast; they seize collateral against the poor
- Job 24:11 Lit olives between their rows
- Job 24:12 One Hb ms, Syr read the dying
- Job 24:16 Lit dig
- Job 24:16 Lit they seal for themselves
- Job 24:18 Lit are insignificant
- Job 24:21 LXX, Tg read They harm
- Job 24:22 Or God prolongs [the life of]
- Job 24:24 LXX reads like a mallow plant in the heat
Job 24
New Living Translation
Job Asks Why the Wicked Are Not Punished
24 “Why doesn’t the Almighty bring the wicked to judgment?
Why must the godly wait for him in vain?
2 Evil people steal land by moving the boundary markers.
They steal livestock and put them in their own pastures.
3 They take the orphan’s donkey
and demand the widow’s ox as security for a loan.
4 The poor are pushed off the path;
the needy must hide together for safety.
5 Like wild donkeys in the wilderness,
the poor must spend all their time looking for food,
searching even in the desert for food for their children.
6 They harvest a field they do not own,
and they glean in the vineyards of the wicked.
7 All night they lie naked in the cold,
without clothing or covering.
8 They are soaked by mountain showers,
and they huddle against the rocks for want of a home.
9 “The wicked snatch a widow’s child from her breast,
taking the baby as security for a loan.
10 The poor must go about naked, without any clothing.
They harvest food for others while they themselves are starving.
11 They press out olive oil without being allowed to taste it,
and they tread in the winepress as they suffer from thirst.
12 The groans of the dying rise from the city,
and the wounded cry for help,
yet God ignores their moaning.
13 “Wicked people rebel against the light.
They refuse to acknowledge its ways
or stay in its paths.
14 The murderer rises in the early dawn
to kill the poor and needy;
at night he is a thief.
15 The adulterer waits for the twilight,
saying, ‘No one will see me then.’
He hides his face so no one will know him.
16 Thieves break into houses at night
and sleep in the daytime.
They are not acquainted with the light.
17 The black night is their morning.
They ally themselves with the terrors of the darkness.
18 “But they disappear like foam down a river.
Everything they own is cursed,
and they are afraid to enter their own vineyards.
19 The grave[a] consumes sinners
just as drought and heat consume snow.
20 Their own mothers will forget them.
Maggots will find them sweet to eat.
No one will remember them.
Wicked people are broken like a tree in the storm.
21 They cheat the woman who has no son to help her.
They refuse to help the needy widow.
22 “God, in his power, drags away the rich.
They may rise high, but they have no assurance of life.
23 They may be allowed to live in security,
but God is always watching them.
24 And though they are great now,
in a moment they will be gone like all others,
cut off like heads of grain.
25 Can anyone claim otherwise?
Who can prove me wrong?”
Footnotes
- 24:19 Hebrew Sheol.
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
