Job 24
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 wilderness,
the poor go out to their task of foraging for food;
the desert 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,”
and 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 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
- 24:8 Lit they embrace
- 24:9 Text emended; MT reads breast; they seize collateral against the poor
- 24:11 Lit olives between their rows
- 24:12 One Hb ms, Syr read the dying
- 24:16 Lit dig
- 24:16 Lit they seal for themselves
- 24:18 Lit are insignificant
- 24:21 LXX, Tg read They harm
- 24:22 Or God prolongs the life of
- 24:24 LXX reads like a mallow plant in the heat
Job 24
BRG Bible
24 Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?
2 Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.
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 poor of the earth hide themselves together.
5 Behold, 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.
6 They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.
7 They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they 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 They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.
10 They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;
11 Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.
12 Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.
13 They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.
14 The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.
15 The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face.
16 In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.
17 For 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.
18 He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.
19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned.
20 The 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.
21 He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.
22 He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life.
23 Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon their ways.
24 They 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.
25 And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?
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