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Job’s Eighth Speech, Continued

24 “Why are not times kept by Shaddai,
and why do not those who know him see his days?
They[a] remove border stones;
they seize flocks, and they pasture them.
They drive away the donkey of orphans;
they take the widow’s ox as a pledge.
They thrust the poor off the road;
the needy of the earth hide themselves together.[b]
“Look, like wild donkeys in the desert
they[c] go out to their labor as searchers for the prey;
the wilderness is[d] their[e] food for the young.
They reap their[f] fodder in the field,
and they glean in the vineyard of the wicked.
They spend the night naked, without[g] clothing,
and they have no garment in the cold.
They are wet from the rainstorm of the mountains,[h]
and they cling to the rock without[i] refuge.
“They[j] snatch the orphan from the breast,
and they take a pledge against the needy.[k]
10 They[l] go about naked, without clothing,
and hungry, they carry the sheaves.[m]
11 Between their terraces they press out oil;
they tread the presses, but[n] they are thirsty.
12 From the city people groan,
and the throat[o] of the wounded cries for help;
yet[p] God does not regard it as unseemly.[q]

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Footnotes

  1. Job 24:2 Or “Some” (NASU, ESV) or “Men” (NIV, NET)
  2. Job 24:4 Or “altogether”
  3. Job 24:5 That is, the poor
  4. Job 24:5 Or “provides”
  5. Job 24:5 Hebrew “for their”
  6. Job 24:6 Hebrew “his”
  7. Job 24:7 Literally “from not”
  8. Job 24:8 Or “from the mountain rainstorm”
  9. Job 24:8 Literally “from not”
  10. Job 24:9 That is, those who oppress the poor
  11. Job 24:9 Or “And they take the child of the needy as a pledge”
  12. Job 24:10 That is, the poor
  13. Job 24:10 Or “and they carry the sheaves though hungry”
  14. Job 24:11 Hebrew “and”
  15. Job 24:12 Or “soul,” or “inner self”
  16. Job 24:12 Hebrew “and”
  17. Job 24:12 Literally “he puts offensiveness”

24 “Why aren’t times laid up by the Almighty?
    Why don’t those who know him see his days?
There are people who remove the landmarks.
    They violently take away flocks, and feed them.
They drive away the donkey of the fatherless,
    and they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
They turn the needy out of the way.
    The poor of the earth all hide themselves.
Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert,
    they go out to their work, seeking diligently for food.
The wilderness yields them bread for their children.
    They cut their food in the field.
They glean the vineyard of the wicked.
    They lie all night naked without clothing,
and have no covering in the cold.
    They are wet with the showers of the mountains,
and embrace the rock for lack of a shelter.
    There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast,
and take a pledge of the poor,
10     So that they go around naked without clothing.
    Being hungry, they carry the sheaves.
11 They make oil within the walls of these men.
    They tread wine presses, and suffer thirst.
12 From out of the populous city, men groan.
    The soul of the wounded cries out,
    yet God doesn’t regard the folly.

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