Job 24
American Standard Version
24 [a]Why are times not laid up by the Almighty?
And why do not they that know him see his days?
2 There are that remove the landmarks;
They violently take away flocks, and feed them.
3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless;
They take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4 They turn the needy out of the way:
The [b]poor of the earth all hide themselves.
5 Behold, as wild asses in the desert
They go forth to their work, seeking diligently for [c]food;
The wilderness yieldeth them bread for their children.
6 They cut [d]their provender in the field;
And they glean the vintage of the wicked.
7 They lie all night naked without clothing,
And have no covering in the cold.
8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains,
And embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
9 There are that pluck the fatherless from the breast,
And [e]take a pledge of the poor;
10 So that they go about naked without clothing,
And being hungry they carry the sheaves.
11 They make oil within the walls of these men;
They tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.
12 From out of the [f]populous city men groan,
And the soul of the wounded crieth out:
Yet God regardeth not the folly.
13 These are of them that rebel against the light;
They know not the ways thereof,
Nor abide in the paths thereof.
14 The murderer riseth with the light;
He killeth the poor and needy;
And in the night he is as a thief.
15 The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight,
Saying, No eye shall see me:
And he [g]disguiseth his face.
16 In the dark they dig through houses:
[h]They shut themselves up in the day-time;
They know not the light.
17 For [i]the morning is to all of them as thick darkness;
For they know the terrors of the thick darkness.
18 [j]Swiftly they pass away upon the face of the waters;
Their portion is cursed in the earth:
They turn not into the way of the vineyards.
19 Drought and heat [k]consume the snow waters:
So doth Sheol those that have sinned.
20 The womb shall forget him;
The worm shall feed sweetly on him;
He shall be no more remembered;
And unrighteousness shall be broken [l]as a tree.
21 He devoureth the barren that beareth not,
And doeth not good to the widow.
22 Yet God preserveth the mighty by his power:
He riseth up that hath no assurance of life.
23 God giveth them to be in security, and they rest thereon;
[m]And his eyes are upon their ways.
24 They are exalted; yet a little while, and they are gone;
[n]Yea, they are brought low, they are [o]taken out of the way as all others,
And are cut off as the tops of the ears of grain.
25 And if it be not so now, who will prove me a liar,
And make my speech nothing worth?
Footnotes
- Job 24:1 Or, Why is it, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, That they who know him see not his days?
- Job 24:4 Or, meek
- Job 24:5 Hebrew prey.
- Job 24:6 Or, his
- Job 24:9 Or, take in pledge that which is on the poor
- Job 24:12 Hebrew city of men.
- Job 24:15 Or, putteth a covering on his face
- Job 24:16 Or, Which they had marked for themselves
- Job 24:17 Or, thick darkness is to all of them as the morning; For they etc.
- Job 24:18 Or, Ye say, Swiftly etc. Hebrew Swift is he etc.
- Job 24:19 Hebrew violently take away.
- Job 24:20 Or, as a tree; even he that devoureth etc.
- Job 24:23 Or, But
- Job 24:24 Or, And when they are etc.
- Job 24:24 Or, gathered in
Job 24
Evangelical Heritage Version
24 Why are appointments never scheduled by the Almighty?
Why do those who know him never see such days?
2 People move boundary stones.
They steal a flock and take it to pasture.
3 They drive away donkeys that belong to the fatherless.
They seize the widow’s ox as collateral.
4 They shove the poor out of the way.
The oppressed people of the land hide together.
5 They go out to their labor, like wild donkeys in the wilderness,
looking for food.
The wasteland is their only source of food for themselves
and their children.
6 They gather their straw in the open countryside.
They glean leftovers in the vineyard of the wicked.
7 They spend the night naked, without clothing.
They have no covering from the cold.
8 They are soaked by heavy rain from the mountains.
They cling to a cliff for shelter.
9 The wicked tear away a fatherless child from its mother’s breast.
They take a poor mother’s nursing baby as collateral.
10 The poor walk around naked, without clothing.
They pick up sheaves but are still hungry.
11 They press olive oil among the terraces of olive trees.
They tread winepresses, but they remain thirsty.
12 The dying people[a] of the city groan,
and wounded souls cry out for help,
but God does not bring charges against anyone.
13 There are people who rebel against the light.
They do not acknowledge its ways or dwell in its paths.
14 At the end of the daylight[b] a murderer arises,
and he kills the poor and needy.
At night he acts as a thief.
15 The eye of an adulterer keeps watch for twilight.
He says, “No eye can get a good look at me.”
He wears a mask over his face.
16 In the dark of night he digs into houses.
By day such people hide inside.
They keep away from the light.
17 For all of them, morning is their darkness.[c]
They are familiar with the sudden terror of darkness.
18 They float by like foam on the surface of the water.
Their portion of the land is cursed,
so no one turns onto the road to their vineyards.
19 As drought and heat snatch away the water from the snow,
the grave snatches away a sinner.
20 The womb forgets him.
A worm finds him sweet.
He will no longer be remembered.
Wickedness is broken like a tree.
21 He feeds on[d] the childless woman,
and he does nothing good for the widow.
22 But God drags away the mighty by his strength.
He rises up, so the wicked have no confidence in their lives.
23 God lets them be secure, and they prop themselves up,
but God’s eyes are on their ways.
24 They are high and mighty for a little while,
but then they are gone.
They are brought low like all the rest.
They are gathered together, like ears of grain that have been cut off.
25 So then, who can make me out to be a liar?
Who can reduce my words to nothing?
Footnotes
- Job 24:12 Variant the people
- Job 24:14 The Hebrew reads at the light. The parallelisms in the following verses suggest that this refers to dusk rather than to dawn.
- Job 24:17 This is the same Hebrew word often translated shadow of death. Here it seems to be the similar word that means darkness.
- Job 24:21 Or preys on
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The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.