What Does Job 24:10 Mean?

They cause him to go naked without clothing (עָרוֹם הִלְּכוּ בְּלִי לְבוּשׁ, aróm hillekhú beli levúsh)—Job returns to the theme of verse 7, using aróm (עָרוֹם, naked/poorly clothed) again. The verb halak (הָלַךְ, to go/walk) suggests continuous state—they live and work without adequate clothing. This nakedness isn't voluntary simplicity but enforced degradation, stripping people of dignity along with covering. In Scripture, nakedness often symbolizes shame and vulnerability (Genesis 3:7, Revelation 3:18).

And they take away the sheaf from the hungry (וּרְעֵבִים נָשְׂאוּ עֹמֶר, ur'evím nas'ú ómer)—The omer (עֹמֶר) is a sheaf of grain, the fruit of harvest labor. The re'evím (רְעֵבִים) are the hungry, famished ones. The bitter irony is complete: laborers harvest grain but remain hungry because their wages are stolen. They gather sheaves but cannot eat. This violates Deuteronomy 24:14-15, which commands paying wages daily to hired servants and warns that withheld wages cause the worker to 'cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee.' James 5:4 echoes this: 'Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.'