Job 24
24
An Illusion of Security
1-12“But if Judgment Day isn’t hidden from the Almighty,
why are we kept in the dark?
There are people out there getting by with murder—
stealing and lying and cheating.
They rip off the poor
and exploit the unfortunate,
Push the helpless into the ditch,
bully the weak so that they fear for their lives.
The poor, like stray dogs and cats,
scavenge for food in back alleys.
They sort through the garbage of the rich,
eke out survival on handouts.
Homeless, they shiver through cold nights on the street;
they’ve no place to lay their heads.
Exposed to the weather, wet and frozen,
they huddle in makeshift shelters.
Nursing mothers have their babies snatched from them;
the infants of the poor are kidnapped and sold.
They go about patched and threadbare;
even the hard workers go hungry.
No matter how backbreaking their labor,
they can never make ends meet.
People are dying right and left, groaning in torment.
The wretched cry out for help
and God does nothing, acts like nothing’s wrong!
13-17“Then there are those who avoid light at all costs,
who scorn the light-filled path.
When the sun goes down, the murderer gets up—
kills the poor and robs the defenseless.
Sexual predators can’t wait for nightfall,
thinking, ‘No one can see us now.’
Burglars do their work at night,
but keep well out of sight through the day.
They want nothing to do with light.
Deep darkness is morning for that bunch;
they make the terrors of darkness their companions in crime.
18-25“They are scraps of wood floating on the water—
useless, cursed junk, good for nothing.
As surely as snow melts under the hot, summer sun,
sinners disappear in the grave.
The womb has forgotten them, worms have relished them—
nothing that is evil lasts.
Unscrupulous,
they prey on those less fortunate.
However much they strut and flex their muscles,
there’s nothing to them. They’re hollow.
They may have an illusion of security,
but God has his eye on them.
They may get their brief successes,
but then it’s over, nothing to show for it.
Like yesterday’s newspaper,
they’re used to wrap up the garbage.
You’re free to try to prove me a liar,
but you won’t be able to do it.”
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Job 24: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Job 24
24
Job Says God Seems to Ignore Wrongs
1“Why does the Almighty not set seasons for judgment?
Why do those who know Him not see His days [for punishment of the wicked]? [Acts 1:7]
2“Some remove the landmarks;
They [violently] seize and pasture flocks [appropriating land and flocks openly].
3“They drive away the donkeys of the orphans;
They take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4“They crowd the needy off the road;
The poor of the land all hide themselves.
5“Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert,
The poor go to their work, diligently seeking food;
As bread for their children in the desert.
6“They harvest their fodder in a field [that is not their own],
And glean the vineyard of the wicked.
7“They spend the night naked, without clothing,
And have no covering against the cold.
8“They are wet from the rain of the mountains
And cling to the rock for lack of shelter.
9“Others snatch the fatherless [infants] from the breast [to sell or make them slaves],
And against the poor they take a pledge [of clothing].
10“They cause the poor to go about naked without clothing,
And they take away the sheaves [of grain] from the hungry.
11“Within the walls [of the wicked] the poor make [olive] oil;
They tread [the grapes in] the wine presses, but thirst.
12“From the [populous and crowded] city men groan,
And the souls of the wounded cry out for help;
Yet God [seemingly] does not pay attention to the wrong [done to them].
13¶“Others have been with those who rebel against the light;
They do not want to know its ways
Nor stay in its paths.
14“The murderer rises at dawn;
He kills the poor and the needy,
And at night he becomes a thief.
15“The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight,
Saying, ‘No eye will see me,’
And he covers his face.
16“In the dark they dig into [the penetrable walls of] houses;
They shut themselves up by day;
They do not know the light [of day].
17“For the morning is the same to him as the thick darkness [of midnight];
For he is familiar with the terrors of thick darkness.
18¶“They are insignificant on the surface of the water;
Their portion is cursed on the earth;
They do not turn toward the vineyards.
19“Drought and heat consume the snow waters;
So does Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead) [consume] those who have sinned.
20“A mother will forget him;
The worm feeds on him until he is no longer remembered.
And wickedness will be broken like a tree [which cannot be restored]. [Prov 10:7]
21“He preys on the barren (childless) woman
And does no good for the widow.
22“Yet God draws away the mighty by His power;
He rises, but no one has assurance of life.
23“God gives them security, and they are supported;
And His eyes are on their ways.
24“They are exalted for a little while, and then they are gone;
Moreover, they are brought low and like everything [they are] gathered up and taken out of the way;
Even like the heads of grain they are cut off.
25“And if this is not so, who can prove me a liar
And make my speech worthless?”
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