Why Doesn't God Judge?
Study note
Job asks why the Almighty does not set specific times for judgment. Wicked people move boundary stones, steal flocks, and oppress orphans and widows. The poor are forced to scavenge for food like wild donkeys in the desert. They sleep without clothing or shelter. They carry heavy loads and press olives and grapes while going thirsty themselves. The dying groan from the city, but God does not seem to notice.
1 'Why does the Almighty not set specific days for judgment? Why do the people who know him never see him hold court?' Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?
2 'Evil people shove boundary markers off the property line. They grab other people's flocks and herd them away.' Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.
3 'They take the donkey right from under an orphan. They hold a widow's ox hostage until she pays a debt.' They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge.
4 'They shoulder the needy right off the road. All the poor people of the land have no choice but to go into hiding.' They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.
5 'Like wild donkeys out in the wilderness, the poor head out each day looking for food. The barren wasteland is all they have to feed their children.' Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children.
6 'They gather scraps of grain left in the fields and pick over what remains in the wicked person's vineyard.' They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.
7 'They have to sleep with no clothes on and nothing to cover them when it gets cold at night.' They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.
8 'Mountain rainstorms drench them completely. With no shelter in sight, they press their bodies against the rocks.' They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
9 'Babies are snatched right off their mother's chest. The child of a poor person is taken as payment for a debt.' They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.
10 'They walk around with no proper clothing. They carry bundles of grain on their backs while their own stomachs growl with hunger.' They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;
11 'They crush olives and stomp grapes right where the rich people live, and yet they themselves go thirsty.' Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.
12 'From inside the city, you can hear dying people groan. Wounded people cry out for help. But God does not seem to hold anyone responsible.' Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.
Those Who Work in Darkness
Study note
Job describes people who rebel against the light. Murderers kill the poor at dawn and prowl like thieves at night. Adulterers wait for twilight, saying, 'No one will see me.' They break into houses in the dark. Morning is like deep darkness to them.
13 'There are people who completely reject the light. They refuse to learn its ways or follow its paths.' They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.
14 'The killer gets up before dawn to murder the poor and helpless. When night falls, they sneak around like a thief.' The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.
15 'The unfaithful person waits for the sun to go down, thinking, "Nobody will notice me," and hides their face.' The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face.
16 'Under cover of darkness, they break into homes. During the daytime, they lock themselves away. They want nothing to do with the light.' In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.
17 'The pitch-black night is like morning to every one of them. They are right at home with the horrors of deep darkness.' For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.
The Wicked Eventually Perish
Study note
Job acknowledges that the wicked are eventually swept away like foam on water. Drought and heat consume them. The worm feeds on them. They are no more remembered. But they may also be given security for a time, and God watches over their ways. They are lifted up for a little while and then are gone. Job challenges anyone to prove him wrong.
18 'Yet they are carried off like foam floating on the surface of a river. Their portion of the land is cursed. Nobody visits their vineyards.' He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.
19 'The way heat and dry weather melt away snow -- that is how the grave swallows those who have sinned.' Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned.
20 'Even the womb that carried them will forget them. Worms will feast on their bodies. Nobody will ever think about them again. Their wickedness snaps like a dead tree branch.' The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.
21 'They mistreat the woman who has no children to defend her and show no mercy to the widow.' He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.
22 'But God uses his power to drag the mighty away. They may get back on their feet, but they can never be sure they will keep breathing.' He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life.
23 'God might allow them to feel secure for a while, but he is keeping his eyes on everything they do.' Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon their ways.
24 'They ride high for a short time, and then they disappear. They are cut down and gathered up like everybody else, like grain being clipped right off the stalk.' They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.
25 'If this is not the way it truly is, go ahead and prove me wrong. Show me that my words have no value.' And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?