Job Says God Seems to Ignore Wrongs

24 (A)Why are [a]times not stored up by the Almighty,
And why do those who know Him not see (B)His [b]days?
People (C)remove landmarks;
They seize and [c]devour flocks.
They drive away the donkeys of (D)orphans;
They seize the (E)widow’s ox as a pledge.
They push (F)the needy aside from the road;
The (G)poor of the land have to hide themselves together.
Behold, like (H)wild donkeys in the wilderness
They (I)go out scavenging for food in their activity,
As [d]bread for their children in the desert.
They harvest their feed in the field
And glean the vineyard of the wicked.
(J)They spend the night naked, without clothing,
And have no covering against the cold.
They are wet from the mountain rains,
And they hug the rock for lack of a shelter.
Others snatch an (K)orphan from the breast,
And they seize it as a pledge against the poor.
10 The poor move about naked without clothing,
And they carry sheaves, while going hungry.
11 Within the walls they produce oil;
They tread wine presses but go thirsty.
12 From the city people groan,
And the souls of the wounded cry for help;
Yet God (L)does not pay attention to the offensiveness.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Job 24:1 I.e., of judgment for the wicked
  2. Job 24:1 I.e., of judgment for the wicked
  3. Job 24:2 Or pasture
  4. Job 24:5 Lit his bread

Absence of justice

24 Why doesn’t the Almighty establish times for punishment?[a]
    Why can’t those who know him see his days?
People move boundary stones,
        herd flocks they’ve stolen,
    drive off an orphan’s donkey,
        take a widow’s ox as collateral,
    thrust the poor out of the way,
        make the land’s needy hide together.
They are like the wild donkeys in the desert;
    they go forth at dawn searching for prey;
        the wasteland is food for their young.
They gather their food in the field,
    glean in unproductive vineyards,
    spend the night naked, unclothed,
        in the cold without a cover,
    wet from mountain rains,
        with no refuge, huddled against a rock.
The orphan is stolen from the breast;
    the infant[b] of the poor is taken as collateral.
10 The poor go around naked, without clothes,
    carry bundles of grain while hungry,
11     crush olives between millstones,[c]
    tread winepresses, but remain thirsty.
12 From the city, the dying cry out;
    the throat of the mortally wounded screams, but God assigns no blame.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Job 24:1 Heb lacks for punishment.
  2. Job 24:9 Reading Heb we‘ul (infant) for we‘al (against)
  3. Job 24:11 Heb uncertain