King James Version
Job 24
25 verses with commentary
Job Continues: Why Are Times Not Set by the Almighty?
Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?
View commentary (4 sources)
KJV Study Commentary
Job's question: 'Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?' This asks why God, who knows all times, doesn't act to establish justice. The question isn't doubt but confusion about divine timing.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
XXIV.
(1) **Why, seeing times are not hidden.**—Job, in this chapter, gives utterance to this perplexity, as it arises, not from his own case only, but from a survey of God’s dealings with the world generally. “Why is it,” he asks, “since times and events are not hidden from the Almighty, that they who know Him—that is, believe in and love Him—do not see His days?”—that is, His days of retribution...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**25. as the grass--**(Psa 72:16). Properly, "herb-bearing seed" (Ge 1:11, 12).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 24
Chapter Outline
Wickedness often unpunished.(1-12)
The wicked shun the light.(13-17)
Judgements for the wicked.(18-25)
**Verses 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 p...
Read full commentary →Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof. feed: or, feed them
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Some remove the landmarks</strong> (יַשִּׂיגוּ גְּבֻלוֹת, yassígu gevulót)—Job begins his catalogue of wicked oppression with boundary theft, a crime forbidden in Deuteronomy 19:14 and 27:17. Hebrew <em>gebul</em> denotes the sacred property markers that defined family inheritance. Moving landmarks violated covenant law and robbed families of their God-given patrimony. This wasn't mere pro...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **Some remove the landmarks.**—Now follows a description of the wrong-doings of various classes of men. The removal of landmarks was expressly provided against by the Mosaic Law (Deuteronomy 19:14; Deuteronomy 27:17).
**And feed thereof.**—Rather, probably, *feed them: i.e., *pasture them, the more easy to do when the landmarks are so removed.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**26. in a full age--**So "full of days" (Job 42:17; Ge 35:29). Not mere length of years, but ripeness for death, one's inward and outward full development not being prematurely cut short, is denoted (Is 65:22).
**Thou shalt come--**not literally, but expressing willingness to die. Eliphaz speaks from the Old Testament point of view, which made full years a reward of the righteous (Psa 91:16; Ex...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 24
Chapter Outline
Wickedness often unpunished.(1-12)
The wicked shun the light.(13-17)
Judgements for the wicked.(18-25)
**Verses 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 p...
Read full commentary →They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>They drive away the ass of the fatherless</strong>—The Hebrew <em>yatom</em> (יָתוֹם, fatherless) and <em>almanah</em> (אַלְמָנָה, widow) represent society's most vulnerable members, those without male protection in patriarchal culture. The donkey was essential for the poor person's livelihood—used for transportation, farming, and carrying goods. Seizing it condemned the fatherless to dest...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **They drive away the ass.**—The ass and the ox, the fatherless and the widow presumably having no more than one. He first describes the oppression of the country, and then that of the city (Job 24:12). We seem here to catch a glimpse of the sufferings of some oppressed and subject aboriginal race, such as the Canaanites may have been to the Jews, though there is probably no allusion to them. ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**27. searched it ... for thy good--**literally, "for thyself" (Psa 111:2; Pr 2:4; 9:12).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 24
Chapter Outline
Wickedness often unpunished.(1-12)
The wicked shun the light.(13-17)
Judgements for the wicked.(18-25)
**Verses 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 p...
Read full commentary →They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>They turn the needy out of the way</strong> (יַטּוּ אֶבְיוֹנִים מִדָּרֶךְ, yattú evyoním middarékh)—The verb <em>natah</em> (נָטָה) means to thrust aside, push off course, or pervert. The <em>evyoním</em> (needy/poor) are literally shoved off the path, denied access to public roads, markets, and justice. This describes systematic marginalization—the poor become invisible, forced to hide to...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 24
Chapter Outline
Wickedness often unpunished.(1-12)
The wicked shun the light.(13-17)
Judgements for the wicked.(18-25)
**Verses 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 p...
Read full commentary →Behold, 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.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>As wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work</strong> (כְּעֲרֹדִים בַּמִּדְבָּר, ke'aródim bammidbar)—Job shifts from oppressors to their victims. The <em>arod</em> (עָרוֹד) is the onager or wild donkey, a creature living in harsh desert conditions, constantly foraging for survival (Jeremiah 2:24, Hosea 8:9). The comparison emphasizes the dehumanizing effect of poverty—the oppr...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 24
Chapter Outline
Wickedness often unpunished.(1-12)
The wicked shun the light.(13-17)
Judgements for the wicked.(18-25)
**Verses 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 p...
Read full commentary →They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked. corn: Heb. mingled corn, or, dredge they gather: Heb. the wicked gather the vintage
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>They reap every one his corn in the field</strong> (בַּשָּׂדֶה בְּלִילוֹ יִקְצוֹרוּ, bassadéh belíló yiqtsóru)—This verse is textually difficult. The Hebrew <em>belílo</em> likely means 'not his own' or 'mixed grain'—the poor scavenge whatever they can find in others' fields. Alternatively, it may reference night harvesting (related to <em>layil</em>, לַיִל, night), suggesting the poor gle...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **They reap every one his corn.**—Or, probably, *the corn, *that is, *of the wicked tyrant. *While they reap his corn and cut his provender, they have to go without themselves.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 6
FIRST SERIES CONTINUED.
Job 6:1-30. Reply of Job to Eliphaz.
**2. throughly weighed--**Oh, that instead of censuring my complaints when thou oughtest rather to have sympathized with me, thou wouldst accurately compare my sorrow, and my misfortunes; these latter "outweigh in the balance" the former.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 24
Chapter Outline
Wickedness often unpunished.(1-12)
The wicked shun the light.(13-17)
Judgements for the wicked.(18-25)
**Verses 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 p...
Read full commentary →They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>They cause the naked to lodge without clothing</strong> (עָרוֹם יָלִינוּ מִבְּלִי לְבוּשׁ, aróm yalínu mibbeli levúsh)—The word <em>aróm</em> (עָרוֹם) means naked or poorly clothed, emphasizing extreme poverty. The verb <em>lun</em> (לוּן) means to lodge or spend the night—these people lack even basic shelter and clothing for nighttime cold. This directly violates Exodus 22:26-27, which co...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**3. the sand--**(Pr 27:3).
**are swallowed up--**See Margin [that is, "I want words to express my grief"]. But Job plainly is apologizing, not for not having had words enough, but for having spoken too much and too boldly; and the Hebrew is, "to speak rashly" [Umbreit, Gesenius, Rosenmuller]. "Therefore were my words so rash."
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 24
Chapter Outline
Wickedness often unpunished.(1-12)
The wicked shun the light.(13-17)
Judgements for the wicked.(18-25)
**Verses 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 p...
Read full commentary →They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>They are wet with the showers of the mountains</strong> (מִזֶּרֶם הָרִים יִרְטָבוּ, mizzérem harím yirtávu)—The <em>zerem</em> (זֶרֶם) is a rainstorm or downpour, and <em>ratav</em> (רָטַב) means to be drenched or soaked. Mountain rains in the ancient Near East were cold and dangerous—those without shelter risked hypothermia. Job continues his portrayal of the desperately poor, exposed to ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4. arrows ... within me--**have pierced me. A poetic image representing the avenging Almighty armed with bow and arrows (Psa 38:2, 3). Here the arrows are poisoned. Peculiarly appropriate, in reference to the burning pains which penetrated, like poison, into the inmost parts--("spirit"; as contrasted with mere surface flesh wounds) of Job's body.
**set themselves in array--**a military image (...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 24
Chapter Outline
Wickedness often unpunished.(1-12)
The wicked shun the light.(13-17)
Judgements for the wicked.(18-25)
**Verses 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 p...
Read full commentary →They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>They pluck the fatherless from the breast</strong> (יִגְזְלוּ מִשַּׁד יָתוֹם, yigzelú mishád yatóm)—The verb <em>gazal</em> (גָזַל) means to tear away violently or rob, the same word used in verse 2 for seizing flocks. The <em>shad</em> (שַׁד, breast) indicates a nursing infant. This horrific image depicts creditors seizing even nursing babies as payment for debt—the ultimate cruelty, sepa...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
5. Neither wild animals, as the wild ass, nor tame, as the ox, are dissatisfied when well-supplied with food. The braying of the one and the lowing of the other prove distress and want of palatable food. So, Job argues, if he complains, it is not without cause; namely, his pains, which are, as it were, disgusting food, which God feeds him with (end of Job 6:7). But he should have remembered a rati...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 24
Chapter Outline
Wickedness often unpunished.(1-12)
The wicked shun the light.(13-17)
Judgements for the wicked.(18-25)
**Verses 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 p...
Read full commentary →They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>They cause him to go naked without clothing</strong> (עָרוֹם הִלְּכוּ בְּלִי לְבוּשׁ, aróm hillekhú beli levúsh)—Job returns to the theme of verse 7, using <em>aróm</em> (עָרוֹם, naked/poorly clothed) again. The verb <em>halak</em> (הָלַךְ, to go/walk) suggests continuous state—they live and work without adequate clothing. This nakedness isn't voluntary simplicity but enforced degradation,...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) **They cause him to go naked without clothing.**—Rather, *they go about, *or, *so that they go about, naked without clothing *(the tautology is expressive in Hebrew, though meaningless in English), *and an hungered they carry the sheaves.*
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**6. unsavoury--**tasteless, insipid. Salt is a chief necessary of life to an Easterner, whose food is mostly vegetable.
**the white--**literally, "spittle" (1Sa 21:13), which the white of an egg resembles.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 24
Chapter Outline
Wickedness often unpunished.(1-12)
The wicked shun the light.(13-17)
Judgements for the wicked.(18-25)
**Verses 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 p...
Read full commentary →Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Which make oil within their walls</strong> (בֵּין שׁוּרֹתָם יַצְהִירוּ, bein shurótam yatshíru)—The phrase <em>bein shurotam</em> literally means 'between their rows' or 'within their walls,' suggesting the enclosed spaces where olives are pressed. The verb <em>tsahar</em> (צָהַר) means to press out oil, labor-intensive work requiring crushing olives. The workers labor in the very midst of...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
7. To "touch" is contrasted with "meat." "My taste refused even to touch it, and yet am I fed with such meat of sickness." The second clause literally, is, "Such is like the sickness of my food." The natural taste abhors even to touch insipid food, and such forms my nourishment. For my sickness is like such nauseous food [Umbreit]. (Psa 42:3; 80:5; 102:9). No wonder, then, I complain.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 24
Chapter Outline
Wickedness often unpunished.(1-12)
The wicked shun the light.(13-17)
Judgements for the wicked.(18-25)
**Verses 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 p...
Read full commentary →Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.
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KJV Study Commentary
Job observes: 'Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.' This notes that human suffering elicits cries but God doesn't immediately judge the oppressors. The mystery of delayed divine response troubles Job.
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(12) **Men groan from out of the city.**—Here a survey of the oppressions wrought within the city walls is taken.
**Yet God layeth not folly to them.**—That is, to those who are the cause of their wrongs, their oppressors.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
8. To desire death is no necessary proof of fitness for death. The ungodly sometimes desire it, so as to escape troubles, without thought of the hereafter. The godly desire it, in order to be with the Lord; but they patiently wait God's will.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 24
Chapter Outline
Wickedness often unpunished.(1-12)
The wicked shun the light.(13-17)
Judgements for the wicked.(18-25)
**Verses 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 p...
Read full commentary →They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.
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KJV Study Commentary
Job describes the wicked as "those that rebel against the light (<em>or</em>, אוֹר)." Light in Hebrew thought represents divine revelation, truth, and righteousness (Psalm 119:105). The verb <em>marad</em> (מָרַד, "rebel") indicates deliberate insurrection—not mere ignorance but willful rejection. Job observes that some don't merely lack light but actively fight against it. This echoes Jesus' teac...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **They are of those that rebel against the light.**—A very remarkable expression, which seems to anticipate the teaching of St. John (Job 1:9, &c.).
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**9. destroy--**literally, "grind" or "crush" (Is 3:15).
**let loose his hand--**God had put forth His hand only so far as to wound the surface of Job's flesh (Job 1:12; 2:6); he wishes that hand to be let loose, so as to wound deeply and vitally.
**cut me off--**metaphor from a weaver cutting off the web, when finished, from the thrum fastening it to the loom (Is 38:12).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 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 las...
Read full commentary →The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy</strong>—Job catalogs violent crimes beginning at dawn. The Hebrew <em>rotseach</em> (רֹצֵחַ, murderer) refers to premeditated killing, distinct from accidental manslaughter. The phrase "rising with the light" (יָקוּם לָאוֹר) depicts predators who hunt at daybreak when victims are vulnerable. Job's point cuts deep: the wicked ex...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(14) **With the light.**—The mention of light as a moral essence suggests its physical analogue, so that by the contrast of the one with the violence done to the other, the moral turpitude of the wrong-doing is heightened. It seems impossible to interpret the light in the former case (Job 24:13) otherwise than morally, and if so, the mention of the “ways thereof” and the “paths thereof” is very re...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**10. I would harden myself in sorrow--**rather, "I would exult in the pain," if I knew that that pain would hasten my death [Gesenius]. Umbreit translates the Hebrew of "Let Him not spare," as "unsparing"; and joins it with "pain."
**concealed--**I have not disowned, in word or deed, the commands of the Holy One (Psa 119:46; Ac 20:20). He says this in answer to Eliphaz' insinuation that he is a...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 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 las...
Read full commentary →The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face. disguiseth: Heb. setteth his face in secret
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight</strong>—Job shifts from murder to adultery, expanding his indictment of unpunished sin. The Hebrew <em>naaph</em> (נֹאֵף, adulterer) violates the seventh commandment (unwritten but universally known in patriarchal times). "Waiteth for the twilight" (<em>nesheph</em>, נֶשֶׁף) depicts premeditated sin—the adulterer calculates when darkn...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
11. What strength have I, so as to warrant the hope of restoration to health? a hope which Eliphaz had suggested. "And what" but a miserable "end" of life is before me, "that I should" desire to "prolong life"? [Umbreit]. Umbreit and Rosenmuller not so well translate the last words "to be patient."
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 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 las...
Read full commentary →In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>In the dark they dig through houses</strong>—Job describes burglars who breach mud-brick walls under cover of darkness. The verb "dig through" (<em>chatar</em>, חָתַר) was literal in ancient Near Eastern architecture where homes had sun-dried brick walls that could be excavated (compare Matthew 6:19, "where thieves break through and steal," using Greek <em>dioryssō</em>, to dig through). T...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(16) **Which they had marked for themselves in the daytime.**—Or, as some understand, *they seal *(*i.e*., shut) *themselves up in the daytime. *It is said that it is still the custom in Eastern cities for such persons to endeavour to obtain access to the harem in female attire.
**They know not the light.**—Compared with Job 24:13, shows strongly the different usage of the expression in the two ca...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
12. Disease had so attacked him that his strength would need to be hard as a stone, and his flesh like brass, not to sink under it. But he has only flesh, like other men. It must, therefore, give way; so that the hope of restoration suggested by Eliphaz is vain (see on Job 5:11).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 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 las...
Read full commentary →For 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.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death</strong>—Job employs powerful irony: while normal people dread darkness, the wicked fear daylight. "Morning" (<em>boqer</em>, בֹּקֶר) typically symbolizes deliverance and divine favor (Psalm 30:5, "weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning"). But for evildoers, dawn brings "the shadow of death" (<em>tsalmaveth</em>,...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**13. Is not my help in me?--**The interrogation is better omitted. "There is no help in me!" For "wisdom," "deliverance" is a better rendering. "And deliverance is driven quite from me."
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 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 las...
Read full commentary →He is swift as the waters ; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>He is swift as the waters</strong>—Scholarly debate surrounds verses 18-24: is Job describing the wicked's deserved judgment (shifting to his friends' retribution theology), or citing their arguments sarcastically? The Hebrew <em>qal-hu al-pene mayim</em> (קַל־הוּא עַל־פְּנֵי־מַיִם) depicts something light/swift upon water's surface—either fleeting prosperity or swift judgment sweeping awa...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(18) **He is swift.**—That is—each of these rebels against the light *is swift to make his escape over the face of the waters. *So we ought to read it, and not, with Authorised Version, as a comparison.
**Their portion is cursed in the earth.**—That is, *men so regard it;* it has an evil name, and is of bad repute.
**He beholdeth not.**—Rather, *he*—that is, each of them—*turneth not the way of th...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**14. pity--**a proverb. Charity is the love which judges indulgently of our fellow men: it is put on a par with truth in Pr 3:3, for they together form the essence of moral perfection [Umbreit]. It is the spirit of Christianity (1Pe 4:8; 1Co 13:7; Pr 10:12; 17:17). If it ought to be used towards all men, much more towards friends. But he who does not use it forsaketh (renounceth) the fear of the ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 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...
Read full commentary →Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned. consume: Heb. violently take
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned</strong>—Job employs natural imagery to describe judgment's certainty. In ancient Near Eastern climate, snow-melt from mountain peaks (Lebanon, Hermon) provided crucial water; yet drought (<em>tsiyah</em>, צִיָּה) and heat (<em>chom</em>, חֹם) evaporate these waters swiftly. Similarly, <em>Sheol</em> (שְׁאו...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(19) **So doth the grave those which have sinned.**—Job had already spoken of the sudden death of the wicked as a blessing (Job 9:23; Job 21:13), as compared with the lingering torture he himself was called upon to undergo.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**15. Those whom I regarded as "my brethren," from whom I looked for faithfulness in my adversity, have disappointed me, as the streams failing from drought--**wadies of Arabia, filled in the winter, but dry in the summer, which disappoint the caravans expecting to find water there. The fulness and noise of these temporary streams answer to the past large and loud professions of my friends; their ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 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...
Read full commentary →The 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.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him</strong>—Job describes death's totality with visceral imagery. "The womb shall forget him" (<em>rechem</em>, רֶחֶם, womb/mother) means even maternal love—the strongest human bond—erases with death. The phrase "the worm shall feed sweetly" uses <em>rimmah</em> (רִמָּה, maggot) and <em>methaq</em> (מְתַק, sweet), creating grotesqu...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(20) **The womb shall forget him.**—Some understand this verse as expressing what *ought *rather to be the doom of the wicked. “His own mother *should *forget him; the worm should feed sweetly on him; he should be no more remembered; and *then *unrighteousness would be broken as a tree.”
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**16. blackish--**literally, "Go as a mourner in black clothing" (Psa 34:14). A vivid and poetic image to picture the stream turbid and black with melted ice and snow, descending from the mountains into the valley. In the [second] clause, the snow dissolved is, in the poet's view, "hid" in the flood [Umbreit].
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 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...
Read full commentary →He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not</strong>—Job catalogs the wicked's cruelty toward society's vulnerable. "Evil entreateth" (<em>ra'ah</em>, רָעָה) means to treat badly, abuse, or oppress. The "barren" (<em>aqarah</em>, עֲקָרָה) suffered profound shame in ancient Near Eastern culture where childlessness marked divine disfavor (see Hannah, 1 Samuel 1:6-7; Elizabeth, Luke 1:25)....
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**17. wax warm--**rather, "At the time when." ("But they soon wax") [Umbreit]. "they become narrower (flow in a narrower bed), they are silent (cease to flow noisily); in the heat (of the sun) they are consumed or vanish out of their place. First the stream flows more narrowly--then it becomes silent and still; at length every trace of water disappears by evaporation under the hot sun" [Umbreit].
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 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...
Read full commentary →He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life. no: or, he trusteth not his own life
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>He draweth also the mighty with his power</strong>—The syntax shifts; "he" likely refers to God (though some interpret it as the wicked tyrant). The verb "draweth" (<em>mashak</em>, מָשַׁךְ) means to pull, drag, or extend, suggesting God's sovereign control even over "the mighty" (<em>abbirim</em>, אַבִּירִים)—powerful oppressors. This echoes Job's earlier confession: "With him is wisdom a...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(22) **He draweth also the mighty.**—He now appears to revert to his former line, and describes another case—that, namely, of a great tyrant who draws others by his influence and example to the same courses.
**He riseth up, and no man is sure of his life.**—Being so completely under his sway.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**18. turned aside--**rather, "caravans" (Hebrew, "travellers") turn aside from their way, by circuitous routes, to obtain water. They had seen the brook in spring full of water: and now in the summer heat, on their weary journey, they turn off their road by a devious route to reach the living waters, which they remembered with such pleasure. But, when "they go," it is "into a desert" [Noyes and U...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 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...
Read full commentary →Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon their ways.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth</strong>—God grants the wicked temporary security (<em>betach</em>, בֶּטַח), allowing them to rest (<em>sha'an</em>, שָׁעַן, to lean upon or rely on) in false confidence. This divine permission of prosperity creates Job's theodicy crisis: why does God allow this? Yet sovereignty means God can grant temporary blessing to the wicked ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(23) **Though it be given.**—“Yea, he, that is each of them, giveth him tribute, &c., that he may be secure and stable.”
**Yet his eyes**—that is, the great tyrant’s eyes—**are upon their ways.**—They are exalted for a little while, but are soon gone, and are taken out of the way like all others. Some understand the subject of the first verb, “he giveth him to be in security,” to be God, and that ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**19. the troops--**that is, "caravans."
**Tema--**north of Arabia-Deserta, near the Syrian desert; called from Tema son of Ishmael (Ge 25:15; Is 21:14; Jr 25:23), still so called by the Arabs. Job 6:19, 20 give another picture of the mortification of disappointed hopes, namely, those of the caravans on the direct road, anxiously awaiting the return of their companions from the distant valley. T...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 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...
Read full commentary →They 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. are gone: Heb. are not taken: Heb. closed up
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low</strong>—Job concludes his theodicy lament with temporal perspective. The wicked are "exalted" (<em>rom</em>, רוֹם, lifted high) but only <em>me'at</em> (מְעַט, a little while). Their elevation is temporary; they "are gone" (<em>einennu</em>, אֵינֶנּוּ, they are not) and "brought low" (<em>shaphel</em>, שָׁפֵל, humbled). Thi...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
20. literally, "each had hoped"; namely, that their companions would find water. The greater had been their hopes the more bitter now their disappointment;
**they came thither--**to the place.
**and were ashamed--**literally, "their countenances burn," an Oriental phrase for the shame and consternation of deceived expectation; so "ashamed" as to disappointment (Ro 5:5).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 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...
Read full commentary →And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?
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KJV Study Commentary
Job challenges anyone to disprove his observations: "And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?" The conditional "if not so" questions his arguments' validity. The verb <em>kazav</em> (כָּזַב, "make me a liar") means to prove false or deceptive. The phrase "make my speech nothing worth" uses <em>al-belima</em> (אַל־בְּלִימָה), meaning futility or worthlessn...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(25) **And if it be not so now.**—Job also has his facts, as ready and as incontrovertible as those of his friends, and yet irreconcilable with theirs.
**Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
21. As the dried-up brook is to the caravan, so are ye to me, namely, a nothing; ye might as well not be in existence [Umbreit]. The Margin "like to them," or "to it" (namely, the waters of the brook), is not so good a reading.
**ye see, and are afraid--**Ye are struck aghast at the sight of my misery, and ye lose presence of mind. Job puts this mild construction on their failing to relieve him ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 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...
Read full commentary →