2 They remove the landmarks; they violently take away the flocks and pasture them; 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 afflicted of the land all hide themselves. 5 Lo, [as] wild asses in the desert, they go forth to their work, seeking early for the prey: the wilderness [yieldeth] them food for [their] children. 6 They reap in the field the fodder thereof, and they gather the vintage of the wicked; 7 They pass the night naked without clothing, and have no covering in the cold; 8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and for want of a shelter embrace the rock ... 9 They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor: 10 These go naked without clothing, and, hungry, they bear the sheaf; 11 They press out oil within their walls, they tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst. 12 Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out; and +God imputeth not the impiety.
13 There are those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof. 14 The murderer riseth with the light, killeth the afflicted and needy, and in the night is as a thief. 15 And the eye of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me; and he putteth a covering on [his] face. 16 In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves in; they know not the light: 17 For the morning is to them all [as] the shadow of death; for they are familiar with the terrors of the shadow of death.
18 He is swift on the face of the waters; their portion is cursed on the earth: he turneth not unto the way of the vineyards. 19 Drought and heat consume snow waters; so doth Sheol those that have sinned. 20 The womb forgetteth him; the worm feedeth sweetly on him: he shall be no more remembered; and unrighteousness is broken as a tree,— 21 He that despoileth 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 [God] setteth him in safety, and he resteth thereon; but his eyes are upon their ways. 24 They are exalted for a little, and are no more; they are laid low; like all [other] are they gathered, and are cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Job 24:2-24
Commentary on Job 24:1-12
(Read Job 24:1-12)
Job discourses further about the prosperity of the wicked. That many live at ease who are ungodly and profane, he had showed, ch. xxi. Here he shows that many who live in open defiance of all the laws of justice, succeed in wicked practices; and we do not see them reckoned with in this world. He notices those that do wrong under pretence of law and authority; and robbers, those that do wrong by force. He says, "God layeth not folly to them;" that is, he does not at once send his judgments, nor make them examples, and so manifest their folly to all the world. But he that gets riches, and not by right, at his end shall be a fool, Jeremiah 17:11.
Commentary on Job 24:13-17
(Read Job 24:13-17)
See what care and pains wicked men take to compass their wicked designs; let it shame our negligence and slothfulness in doing good. See what pains those take, who make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts of it: pains to compass, and then to hide that which will end in death and hell at last. Less pains would mortify and crucify the flesh, and be life and heaven at last. Shame came in with sin, and everlasting shame is at the end of it. See the misery of sinners; they are exposed to continual frights: yet see their folly; they are afraid of coming under the eye of men, but have no dread of God's eye, which is always upon them: they are not afraid of doing things which they are afraid of being known to do.
Commentary on Job 24:18-25
(Read Job 24:18-25)
Sometimes how gradual is the decay, how quiet the departure of a wicked person, how is he honoured, and how soon are all his cruelties and oppressions forgotten! They are taken off with other men, as the harvestman gathers the ears of corn as they come to hand. There will often appear much to resemble the wrong view of Providence Job takes in this chapter. But we are taught by the word of inspiration, that these notions are formed in ignorance, from partial views. The providence of God, in the affairs of men, is in every thing a just and wise providence. Let us apply this whenever the Lord may try us. He cannot do wrong. The unequalled sorrows of the Son of God when on earth, unless looked at in this view, perplex the mind. But when we behold him, as the sinner's Surety, bearing the curse, we can explain why he should endure that wrath which was due to sin, that Divine justice might be satisfied, and his people saved.