# Job 24 📖: Job Asks Why God Delays Judgment [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-Job Overview]] | [[Job 23]] | [[Job 25]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ### The Apparent Indifference of God [[#Verse 01.]] “Why are times not appointed by the Almighty? Why do those who know him not see his days? [[#Verse 02.]] Men move boundary stones; they seize the flock and pasture them. [[#Verse 03.]] They drive away the orphan’s donkey; they take the widow’s ox as a pledge. [[#Verse 04.]] They turn the needy from the pathway, and the poor of the land hide themselves together. [[#Verse 05.]] Like wild donkeys in the wilderness, they go out to their labor seeking diligently for food; the arid rift valley provides food for them and for their children. [[#Verse 06.]] They reap fodder in the field, and glean in the vineyard of the wicked. [[#Verse 07.]] They spend the night naked because they lack clothing; they have no covering against the cold. [[#Verse 08.]] They are soaked by mountain rains and huddle in the rocks because they lack shelter. [[#Verse 09.]] The fatherless child is snatched from the breast, the infant of the poor is taken as a pledge. [[#Verse 10.]] They go about naked, without clothing, and go hungry while they carry the sheaves. [[#Verse 11.]] They press out the olive oil between the rows of olive trees; they tread the winepresses while they are thirsty. [[#Verse 12.]] From the city the dying groan, and the wounded cry out for help, but God charges no one with wrongdoing. [[#Verse 13.]] There are those who rebel against the light; they do not know its ways and they do not stay on its paths. [[#Verse 14.]] Before daybreak the murderer rises up; he kills the poor and the needy; in the night he is like a thief. [[#Verse 15.]] And the eye of the adulterer watches for the twilight, thinking, ‘No eye can see me,’ and covers his face with a mask. [[#Verse 16.]] In the dark the robber breaks into houses, but by day they shut themselves in; they do not know the light. [[#Verse 17.]] For all of them, the morning is to them like deep darkness; they are friends with the terrors of darkness. [[#Verse 18.]] “You say, ‘He is foam on the face of the waters; their portion of the land is cursed so that no one goes to their vineyard. [[#Verse 19.]] The drought as well as the heat snatch up the melted snow; so the grave snatches up the sinner. [[#Verse 20.]] The womb forgets him, the worm feasts on him, no longer will he be remembered. Like a tree, wickedness will be broken down. [[#Verse 21.]] He preys on the barren and childless woman, and does not treat the widow well. [[#Verse 22.]] But God drags off the mighty by his power; when God rises up against him, he has no faith in his life. [[#Verse 23.]] God may let them rest in a feeling of security, but he is constantly watching all their ways. [[#Verse 24.]] They are exalted for a little while, and then they are gone, they are brought low like all others, and gathered in, and like a head of grain they are cut off.’ [[#Verse 25.]] “If this is not so, who can prove me a liar and reduce my words to nothing?” ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. ###### Verse 22. ###### Verse 23. ###### Verse 24. ###### Verse 25. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. Moving boundary stones to steal land (24:2) was forbidden in the Law (Deuteronomy 19:14; Proverbs 22:28). 2. Taking a widow's ox as a pledge (24:3) robbed her of her means to farm. The Law forbade taking a widow's garment as a pledge (Deuteronomy 24:17). 3. Job compares the poor to wild donkeys searching the wilderness for food (24:5). 4. The poor glean in the vineyard of the wicked (24:6). God's Law commanded landowners to leave gleanings for the poor (Leviticus 19:9-10). 5. Workers press olive oil and tread winepresses yet go thirsty (24:11). 6. Ancient houses were often made of mud brick, so thieves could dig through the walls at night (24:16). The word Jesus uses for thieves "breaking in" (Matthew 6:19) literally means to dig through. 7. The murderer, the adulterer, and the thief all prefer darkness (24:14-17). 8. Verses 18-24 sound like the friends' view of the wicked, and scholars debate whether Job is quoting them or speaking his own view. 9. The third round of speeches has no speech from Zophar, and Bildad's speech (chapter 25) is very short. 10. Job ends with a challenge: if this is not so, who can prove him a liar (24:25)? ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the righteous Judge who will set every injustice right. Job asked why the Almighty does not set times for judgment (24:1), and God has fixed a day when He will judge the world by the man He appointed, Jesus (Acts 17:31). ## 🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. Job describes the poor who work in others' fields and still go hungry (24:10-11). Where do you see injustice like this today, and how should Christians respond? 2. Those who do evil love the darkness (24:13-17). Why do you think sin and darkness go together (John 3:19-20)? 3. Job asks why God seems slow to judge (24:1, 12). How do you hold on to God's justice when you do not yet see it? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 1: Job asks why the Almighty does not set times for judgment. - 📖 verse 12: The dying groan in the city, yet God does not seem to charge anyone with wrong. - 📖 verse 13: Some people rebel against the light and do not stay on its paths. ## 🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference - 🔗 [[Acts 17#Verse 31.|Acts 17:31]] - God has set a day to judge the world through Jesus. - 🔗 [[Habakkuk 01#Verse 02.|Habakkuk 1:2-4]] - How long, Lord, must I cry for help? - 🔗 [[James 05#Verse 04.|James 5:4]] - The wages withheld from workers cry out. - 🔗 [[John 03#Verse 19.|John 3:19-20]] - People loved darkness rather than light. - 🔗 [[Luke 18#Verse 07.|Luke 18:7-8]] - God will bring justice to His chosen ones. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection 📝 SOAP: [[Job 24 - SOAP|Ever Felt Abandoned By God?]] ## 📂 Internal Notes