Wisdom & Poetry · Old Testament
Job 24
Job 24: Job describes oppressors and the poor, and asks why God's days go unseen
General context
Job's speech continues without a new heading. He asks why, since times are not hidden from the Almighty, those who know him do not see his days. He describes people who remove landmarks, take flocks by violence, drive away the ass of the fatherless, take the widow's ox for a pledge and turn the needy out of the way. The poor go out like wild asses in the desert, rising early for prey; they reap every one his corn in the field and gather the vintage of the wicked; they lodge naked without clothing, wet with mountain showers, embracing the rock for want of shelter. They pluck the fatherless from the breast, take a pledge of the poor and take the sheaf from the hungry; those who make oil and tread winepresses suffer thirst. Men groan from the city and the wounded cry out, yet God lays no folly to them. Job then names those who rebel against the light: the murderer who rises with the light, the adulterer who waits for twilight and disguises his face, and those who dig through houses in the dark; the morning is to them as the shadow of death. The speech turns to the wicked one's portion: cursed in the earth, consumed as drought consumes snow waters, forgotten by the womb, fed on by the worm, broken as a tree. He mistreats the barren and the widow and draws the mighty with his power, yet God's eyes are on their ways; they are exalted a little while, then cut off like the tops of ears of corn. Job ends by asking who will make him a liar.
Cited passages: Job 24:1, Job 24:2, Job 24:3, Job 24:4, Job 24:5, Job 24:6, Job 24:7, Job 24:8, Job 24:9, Job 24:10, Job 24:11, Job 24:12, Job 24:13, Job 24:14, Job 24:15, Job 24:16, Job 24:17, Job 24:18, Job 24:19, Job 24:20, Job 24:21, Job 24:22, Job 24:23, Job 24:24, Job 24:25
Job 24 (KJV)
1Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?
2Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.
3They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.
5Behold, 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.
6They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.
7They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.
8They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
9They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.
10They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;
11Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.
12Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.
13They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.
14The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.
15The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face.
16In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.
17For 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.
18He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.
19Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned.
20The 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.
21He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.
22He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life.
23Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon their ways.
24They 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.
25And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?
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Historical context
There is no new speaker heading in this chapter; the last one is "Then Job answered and said" at the start of chapter 23, so the whole chapter is printed as part of Job's reply to Eliphaz. The wrongs Job describes here, pledges taken, the naked left without clothing, the hungry deprived, widows and the fatherless harmed, are the same wrongs Eliphaz charged Job with in the previous chapter; here Job attributes them to unnamed others and says God "layeth not folly to them." The chapter names no city, region or period. Verses 18 to 24 change to a singular "he" and state that the wicked one is cursed, consumed and cut off, which sits uneasily beside verse 12. The text does not say whether Job is affirming this fate, describing what others claim, or something else; readers differ on this, and the chapter as printed leaves it inside Job's speech, closing with his challenge that no one can make him a liar.
Cited passages: Job 23:1, Job 22:6, Job 22:9, Job 24:9, Job 24:12, Job 24:18, Job 24:24, Job 24:25
Literary context
The chapter opens with a question about why the days of the Almighty are not seen, then answers it with a catalogue. Verses 2 to 12 alternate between the acts of oppressors and the state of their victims: flocks taken, an ox pledged, the naked cold and wet, the hungry stripped of the sheaf, those who make oil and tread winepresses left thirsty. The catalogue ends with groaning from the city and the line that God lays no folly to them. Verses 13 to 17 are organized around light and dark: rebels against the light, a murderer rising with the light, an adulterer waiting for twilight, thieves digging in the dark, and a morning that is to them as the shadow of death. Verses 18 to 24 shift to a singular figure and to images of water, drought, worm, tree and corn. The closing verse turns to the listeners with a dare. The chapter replies to Eliphaz by redistribution: the pledge, the naked, the widow and the fatherless that Eliphaz laid at Job's door reappear as the deeds of others, and the point becomes not whether Job did them but whether God visibly answers them.
Cited passages: Job 24:1, Job 24:3, Job 24:11, Job 24:12, Job 24:13, Job 24:15, Job 24:17, Job 24:20, Job 24:25, Job 22:9
Key moments
- Why are his days unseen? (Job 24:1). Job asks why those who know the Almighty do not see his days of judgment.
- The widow's ox pledged (Job 24:3). Job describes oppressors taking the fatherless one's ass and the widow's ox.
- Naked in the cold (Job 24:7). The poor are made to lodge without clothing or covering.
- Thirst among the winepresses (Job 24:11). Those who make oil and tread winepresses go thirsty.
- God lays no folly to them (Job 24:12). The wounded cry out from the city, and Job says God does not charge the oppressors.
- Rebels against the light (Job 24:14). Murderer, adulterer and thief work by night and fear the morning.
- Who will make me a liar? (Job 24:25). Job closes by daring anyone to prove his speech worthless.
For reflection
Job says the wounded cry out from the city "yet God layeth not folly to them," and a few verses later that the wicked are "cut off as the tops of the ears of corn." Which of these does the speech finally stand behind, and does the closing dare settle it?