Job 24
1 “Why aren’t times laid up by the Almighty? Why don’t those who know him see his days?
“(Why does Almighty [God] not set a time when he will judge [evil people]?/I do not understand why Almighty [God does] not set a time when he will judge [evil people].) [RHQ] Those who know him never [RHQ] see him do that!
2 There are people who remove the landmarks. They violently take away flocks, and feed them.
[Some evil people] remove the markers of boundaries of [other people’s] land, [in order to steal their land]; they seize/steal [other people’s] sheep and put them in their own pastures.
3 They drive away the donkey of the fatherless, and they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
[Some] (take away/steal) the donkeys that belong to orphans, and they take widow’s oxen to guarantee that the widows will pay back the money that they loaned to those widows.
4 They turn the needy out of the way. The poor of the earth all hide themselves.
[Some] shove poor people off the road (OR, prevent poor people from (obtaining their rights/being treated justly)), and they force poor people to find places to hide from them.
5 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.
The result is that poor people have to search for food in the desert like wild donkeys do.
6 They cut their food in the field. They glean the vineyard of the wicked.
The poor people harvest left-over grain in other people’s fields, and gather grapes from vineyards that belong to wicked men.
7 They lie all night naked without clothing, and have no covering in the cold.
During the night they have nothing to cover their bodies, nothing to keep them warm.
8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for lack of a shelter.
When it rains on the mountains, the poor people become very wet, so they huddle under the rock ledges to be protected [from the rain].
9 There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor,
[Some evil men] snatch infants away from their widowed mothers [SYN], and they say ‘I will return your babies to you when you repay the money that I lent to you.’
10 so that they go around naked without clothing. Being hungry, they carry the sheaves.
But the poor people walk around with no clothes on; they are hungry while they are working to carry [other people’s] bundles of grain [to the places where their grain will be threshed].
11 They make oil within the walls of these men. They tread wine presses, and suffer thirst.
Poor people press olives to make [olive] oil; they tread on grapes [to make juice for wine], but [they are not allowed to drink any of it when] they become thirsty.
12 From out of the populous city, men groan. The soul of the wounded cries out, yet God doesn’t regard the folly.
In the cities, people who are wounded and dying cry out [to God for help], but God does not heed their prayers.
13 “These are of those who rebel against the light. They don’t know its ways, nor stay in its paths.
Some wicked people avoid the light [because they do evil things in the dark]; they do not walk on roads that are lighted.
14 The murderer rises with the light. He kills the poor and needy. In the night he is like a thief.
Murderers steal things during the night, and then they arise before dawn in order that they may [go out again and] kill needy [DOU] people.
15 The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No eye will see me.’ He disguises his face.
Those who want to commit adultery wait for twilight/evening; they say ‘I do not want anyone to see me,’ so they keep their faces covered.
16 In the dark they dig through houses. They shut themselves up in the daytime. They don’t know the light.
It is during the night that robbers break into houses [to steal things], but during the day they hide because they want to avoid [being seen in] the light.
17 For the morning is to all of them like thick darkness, for they know the terrors of the thick darkness.
All of those [people] want to do their evil things at night, not in the morning [when it is light], because they are not afraid of [the things that happen during the] night that terrify others.”
18 “They are foam on the surface of the waters. Their portion is cursed in the earth. They don’t turn into the way of the vineyards.
“[But it is wicked people] who are swept/carried away by floods, and God curses the land that they own, and no one goes to work in their vineyards.
Just like the snow melts away when it is hot and there is no rain, those who have sinned disappear into the place where dead people are. (Sheol h7585)
20 The womb will forget him. The worm will feed sweetly on him. He will be no more remembered. Unrighteousness will be broken as a tree.
Not even their mothers remember them now; wicked people are destroyed like trees that are cut down, and maggots eat their corpses.
21 He devours the barren who don’t bear. He shows no kindness to the widow.
They mistreat women who have been unable to give birth to children and women who no longer have children [to take care of them], and they never do good things for widows.
22 Yet God preserves the mighty by his power. He rises up who has no assurance of life.
But God, by his power, gets rid of mighty/influential people. God acts and causes the wicked people to die.
23 God gives them security, and they rest in it. His eyes are on their ways.
God allows them to think that they are secure and safe, but he is watching [MTY] them all the time.
24 They are exalted; yet a little while, and they are gone. Yes, they are brought low, they are taken out of the way as all others, and are cut off as the tops of the ears of grain.
They prosper for a little while, and then [suddenly] they are gone; they disappear like weeds wither and die; they are like [SIM] stalks of grain that have been cut off.
25 If it isn’t so now, who will prove me a liar, and make my speech worth nothing?”
If this is not true, is there [RHQ] anyone who will show that I am a liar and prove that what I have said is not true?”
