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Job 24
EasyEnglish Bible
Job 24
EasyEnglish Bible
Job continues to speak[a]
24 Why has Almighty God not yet decided the time
when he will judge wicked people?
People who serve him faithfully continue to wait for justice.
2 Wicked men move the stones that show the edge of their neighbour's land.[b]
They take their neighbour's land and his sheep for themselves.
3 They take away a donkey
that belongs to a child who has no family.
They take an ox away from a widow,
when they lend money to her.
4 They stop poor people from receiving justice.
Poor people have to run away from them and hide.
5 Poor people have to look for food to eat,
like wild donkeys in the desert.
They have to find food for their children to eat.
6 They find grain in the fields of other people.
They pick grapes that remain in the vineyards of wicked people.
7 They have no clothes to wear during the cold nights.
They sleep without anything to cover themselves.
8 The rain that falls in the mountains makes them very wet.
So they hide among the rocks where they try to keep dry.
9 When wicked people lend money to poor people,
they even take a child whose father has died away from his mother.
10 Poor people have to go out with no clothes to wear.
They are hungry while they carry the crops of other people.
11 They squeeze oil from olives
that grow in the fields of other people.
They also make wine from other people's grapes.
But they themselves are thirsty.
12 In the cities, people who are dying cry with pain.
They call for help,
but God does not punish the people who have hurt them.
13 Some people refuse to live in the light.
They do not understand it.
They do not go along the good way that it shows to them.
14 Murderers rob people when it is still dark.
They kill poor, weak people during the night.
15 Adulterers wait until it is becoming dark.
They think that no one will see them.
They cover their faces
so that no one will recognize them.
16 Robbers go into people's homes in the dark
to take away their things.
But they stay inside during the day.
They never go out in the light.
17 They all like to do evil things at night,
rather than in the light of morning.
They are not afraid of things that happen in the dark,
as other people are.
18 You may say, “Floods of water carry away wicked people.[c]
God curses the land that belongs to them.
Nobody goes to work in their vineyards.
19 Snow soon disappears
when the weather is very hot or very dry.
In the same way, death quickly takes away people who do bad things.
20 Their mothers soon forget them.
Worms eat their bodies.
No one remembers those wicked people.
They are like dead trees that people have cut down.
21 Those wicked people are cruel to women who have no children.
They are not kind to widows.
22 But God uses his strength to remove powerful people.
When he attacks wicked people,
their lives are in his hands.
23 God allows them to feel safe.
But he is always watching everything that they do.
24 Wicked people may have success for a short time,
but suddenly they disappear!
Like everyone else, they fall to the ground.
They become like crops that people cut down at harvest time.”
25 What I have said is true.
Nobody can say that I am telling lies.
You cannot think that my words are useless.’
Footnotes
- 24:1 In chapter 24, Job speaks about the bad things that happen in the world. He does not understand why God does not punish bad people. Then he remembers that bad people die in the end, like everyone else.
- 24:2 See Deuteronomy 19:14; 27:17.
- 24:18 In verses 18–24, Job seems to be repeating things that his friends have been saying. They are not things that he himself agrees with.
Job 24
New International Version
Job 24
New International Version
24 “Why does the Almighty not set times(A) for judgment?(B)
Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?(C)
2 There are those who move boundary stones;(D)
they pasture flocks they have stolen.(E)
3 They drive away the orphan’s donkey
and take the widow’s ox in pledge.(F)
4 They thrust the needy(G) from the path
and force all the poor(H) of the land into hiding.(I)
5 Like wild donkeys(J) in the desert,
the poor go about their labor(K) of foraging food;
the wasteland(L) provides food for their children.
6 They gather fodder(M) in the fields
and glean in the vineyards(N) of the wicked.(O)
7 Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked;
they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold.(P)
8 They are drenched(Q) by mountain rains
and hug(R) the rocks for lack of shelter.(S)
9 The fatherless(T) child is snatched(U) from the breast;
the infant of the poor is seized(V) for a debt.(W)
10 Lacking clothes, they go about naked;(X)
they carry the sheaves,(Y) but still go hungry.
11 They crush olives among the terraces[a];
they tread the winepresses,(Z) yet suffer thirst.(AA)
12 The groans of the dying rise from the city,
and the souls of the wounded cry out for help.(AB)
But God charges no one with wrongdoing.(AC)
13 “There are those who rebel against the light,(AD)
who do not know its ways
or stay in its paths.(AE)
14 When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up,
kills(AF) the poor and needy,(AG)
and in the night steals forth like a thief.(AH)
15 The eye of the adulterer(AI) watches for dusk;(AJ)
he thinks, ‘No eye will see me,’(AK)
and he keeps his face concealed.
16 In the dark, thieves break into houses,(AL)
but by day they shut themselves in;
they want nothing to do with the light.(AM)
17 For all of them, midnight is their morning;
they make friends with the terrors(AN) of darkness.(AO)
18 “Yet they are foam(AP) on the surface of the water;(AQ)
their portion of the land is cursed,(AR)
so that no one goes to the vineyards.(AS)
19 As heat and drought snatch away the melted snow,(AT)
so the grave(AU) snatches away those who have sinned.
20 The womb forgets them,
the worm(AV) feasts on them;(AW)
the wicked are no longer remembered(AX)
but are broken like a tree.(AY)
21 They prey on the barren and childless woman,
and to the widow they show no kindness.(AZ)
22 But God drags away the mighty by his power;(BA)
though they become established,(BB) they have no assurance of life.(BC)
23 He may let them rest in a feeling of security,(BD)
but his eyes(BE) are on their ways.(BF)
24 For a little while they are exalted, and then they are gone;(BG)
they are brought low and gathered up like all others;(BH)
they are cut off like heads of grain.(BI)
25 “If this is not so, who can prove me false
and reduce my words to nothing?”(BJ)
Footnotes
- Job 24:11 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
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