18 He is swift H7031 as the waters; H6440 H4325 their portion H2513 is cursed H7043 in the earth: H776 he beholdeth H6437 not the way H1870 of the vineyards. H3754
Cursed H779 shalt thou be in the city, H5892 and cursed H779 shalt thou be in the field. H7704 Cursed H779 shall be thy basket H2935 and thy store. H4863 Cursed H779 shall be the fruit H6529 of thy body, H990 and the fruit H6529 of thy land, H127 the increase H7698 of thy kine, H504 and the flocks H6251 of thy sheep. H6629 Cursed H779 shalt thou be when thou comest in, H935 and cursed H779 shalt thou be when thou goest out. H3318 The LORD H3068 shall send H7971 upon thee cursing, H3994 vexation, H4103 and rebuke, H4045 in all that thou settest H4916 thine hand H3027 unto for to do, H6213 until thou be destroyed, H8045 and until thou perish H6 quickly; H4118 because H6440 of the wickedness H7455 of thy doings, H4611 whereby thou hast forsaken H5800 me.
Let them melt away H3988 as waters H4325 which run continually: H1980 when he bendeth H1869 his bow to shoot his arrows, H2671 let them be as cut in pieces. H4135
Let their table H7979 become a snare H6341 before H6440 them: and that which should have been for their welfare, H7965 let it become a trap. H4170
Surely thou didst set H7896 them in slippery places: H2513 thou castedst them down H5307 into destruction. H4876 How are they brought into desolation, H8047 as in a moment! H7281 they are utterly H5486 consumed H8552 with terrors. H1091 As a dream H2472 when one awaketh; H6974 so, O Lord, H136 when thou awakest, H5782 thou shalt despise H959 their image. H6754
The curse H3994 of the LORD H3068 is in the house H1004 of the wicked: H7563 but he blesseth H1288 the habitation H5116 of the just. H6662
Pass H5674 through thy land H776 as a river, H2975 O daughter H1323 of Tarshish: H8659 there is no more strength. H4206
If ye will not hear, H8085 and if ye will not lay H7760 it to heart, H3820 to give H5414 glory H3519 unto my name, H8034 saith H559 the LORD H3068 of hosts, H6635 I will even send H7971 a curse H3994 upon you, and I will curse H779 your blessings: H1293 yea, I have cursed H779 them already, because ye do not lay H7760 it to heart. H3820
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Job 24
Commentary on Job 24 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 24
Job having by his complaints in the foregoing chapter given vent to his passion, and thereby gained some ease, breaks them off abruptly, and now applies himself to a further discussion of the doctrinal controversy between him and his friends concerning the prosperity of wicked people. That many live at ease who yet are ungodly and profane, and despise all the exercises of devotion, he had shown, ch. 21. Now here he goes further, and shows that many who are mischievous to mankind, and live in open defiance to all the laws of justice and common honesty, yet thrive and succeed in their unrighteous practices; and we do not see them reckoned with in this world. What he had said before (ch. 12:6), "The tabernacles of robbers prosper,' he here enlarges upon. He lays down his general proposition (v. 1), that the punishment of wicked people is not so visible and apparent as his friends supposed, and then proves it by an induction of particulars.
Job 24:1-12
Job's friends had been very positive in it that they should soon see the fall of wicked people, how much soever they might prosper for a while. By no means, says Job; though times are not hidden from the Almighty, yet those that know him do not presently see his day, v. 1.
For the proof of this, that wicked people prosper, Job specifies two sorts of unrighteous ones, whom all the world saw thriving in their iniquity:-
Job 24:13-17
These verses describe another sort of sinners who therefore go unpunished, because they go undiscovered. They rebel against the light, v. 13. Some understand it figuratively: they sin against the light of nature, the light of God's law, and that of their own consciences; they profess to know God, but they rebel against the knowledge they have of him, and will not be guided and governed, commanded and controlled, by it. Others understand it literally: they have the day-light and choose the night as the most advantageous season for their wickedness. Sinful works are therefore called works of darkness, because he that does evil hates the light (Jn. 3:20), knows not the ways thereof, that is, keeps out of the way of it, or, if he happen to be seen, abides not where he thinks he is known. So that he here describes the worst of sinners,-those that sin wilfully, and against the convictions of their own consciences, whereby they add rebellion to their sin,-those that sin deliberately, and with a great deal of plot and contrivance, using a thousand arts to conceal their villanies, fondly imagining that, if they can but hide them from the eye of men, they are safe, but forgetting that there is no darkness or shadow of death in which the workers of iniquity can hide themselves from God's eye, ch. 34:22. In this paragraph Job specifies three sorts of sinners that shun the light:-
Job 24:18-25
Job here, in the conclusion of his discourse,