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.
Job 24
Modern English Version
24 “Since times of judgment are not kept by the Almighty,
why do they who know Him not see His days?
2 Some remove the landmarks;
they violently take away flocks and feed on them.
3 They drive away the donkey of the orphan;
they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4 They turn away the needy;
the poor of the earth are forced to hide.
5 Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert,
they go out to their work, rising early for a prey.
The wilderness yields food for them and for their children.
6 They gather their fodder in the field,
and they glean in the vineyard of the wicked.
7 They cause the naked to lodge without clothing,
and 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 snatch the fatherless from the breast
and take a pledge from the poor.
10 They cause him to go naked without clothing,
and they take away the sheaf from the hungry.
11 They press out oil within their walls
and tread their winepresses, yet suffer thirst.
12 Men groan from outside the city,
and the soul of the wounded cries out;
yet God does not charge them with wrong.
13 “They are those who rebel against the light;
they do not know its ways
nor abide in its paths.
14 The murderer, rising with the light, kills the poor and needy,
and in the night he is like a thief.
15 Also the eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight,
saying, ‘No eye will see me’;
and he disguises his face.
16 In the dark they break into houses,
which they had marked for themselves in the daytime;
they do not know the light.
17 For the morning is the same to them as the shadow of death;
if someone recognizes 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.
They do not turn toward the way of the vineyards.
19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters;
so the grave consumes those who have sinned.
20 The womb will forget him;
the worm will feed sweetly on him;
he will be remembered no more,
and wickedness will be broken like a tree.
21 He preys on the barren who do not bear,
and does no good for the widow.
22 But God draws the mighty away with His power;
He rises up, and no man is sure of life.
23 He gives them security, and they rely on it;
yet His eyes are on their ways.
24 They are exalted for a little while but are gone and brought low;
they are taken out of the way like all others
and cut off as the tops of the grain.
25 “If it is not so, who will prove me a liar
and make my speech worth nothing?”
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.
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The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.