TRV
Translation
King James Version
They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;
Complete Jewish Bible
so that they go about stripped, unclothed; they go hungry, as they carry sheaves [of grain];
Berean Standard Bible
Without clothing, they wander about naked. They carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.
American Standard Version
So thatthey go about naked without clothing, And being hungry they carry the sheaves.
World English Bible Messianic
So that they go around naked without clothing. Being hungry, they carry the sheaves.
Geneva Bible (1599)
They cause him to go naked without clothing, and take the glening from the hungrie.
Young's Literal Translation
Naked, they have gone without clothing, And hungry--have taken away a sheaf.
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Commentary on Job 24 verses 1–12
1 ¶ Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?
2 Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.
3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge.
4 They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.
5 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 reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.
7 They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.
8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
9 They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.
10 They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;
11 Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.
12 Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.
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, Job 24:1. 1. He takes it for granted that times are not hidden from the Almighty; past times are not hidden from his judgment (Ecc 3:15), present times are not hidden from his providence (Mat 10:29), future times are not hidden from his prescience, Act 15:18. God governs the world, and therefore we may be sure he takes cognizance of it. Bad times are not hidden from him, though the bad men that make the times bad say one to another, He has forsaken the earth, Psa 94:6, Psa 94:7. Every man's times are in his hand, and under his eye, and therefore it is in his power to make the times of wicked men in this world miserable. He foresees the time of every man's death, and therefore, if wicked men die before they are punished for their wickedness, we cannot say, "They escaped him by surprise;" he foresaw it, nay, he ordered it. Before Job will enquire into the reasons of the prosperity of wicked men he asserts God's omniscience, as one prophet, in a similar case, asserts his righteousness (Jer 12:1), another his holiness (Hab 1:13), another his goodness to his own people, Psa 73:1. General truths must be held fast, though we may find it difficult to reconcile them to particular events. 2. He yet asserts that those who know him (that is, wise and good people who are acquainted with him, and with whom his secret is) do not see his day, - the day of his judging for them; this was the thing he complained of in his own case (Job 23:8), that he could not see God appearing on his behalf to plead his cause, - the day of his judging against open and notorious sinners, that is called his day, Psa 37:13. We believe that day will come, but we do not see it, because it is future, and its presages are secret. 3. Though this is a mystery of Providence, yet there is a reason for it, and we shall shortly know why the judgment is deferred; even the wisest, and those who know God best, do not yet see it. God will exercise their faith and patience, and excite their prayers for the coming of his kingdom, for which they are to cry day and night to him, Luk 18:7.
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: -
I. Tyrants, and those that do wrong under pretence of law and authority. It is a melancholy sight which has often been seen under the sun, wickedness in the place of judgment (Ecc 3:16), the unregarded tears of the oppressed, while on the side of the oppressors there was power (Ecc 4:1), the violent perverting of justice and judgment, Ecc 5:8. 1. They disseize their neighbours of their real estates, which came to them by descent from their ancestors. They remove the land-marks, under pretence that they were misplaced (Job 24:2), and so they encroach upon their neighbours' rights and think they effectually secure that to their posterity which they have got wrongfully, by making that to be an evidence for them which should have been an evidence for the rightful owner. This was forbidden by the law of Moses (Deu 19:14), under a curse, Deu 27:17. Forging or destroying deeds is now a crime equivalent to this. 2. They dispossess them of their personal estates, under colour of justice. They violently take away flocks, pretending they are forfeited, and feed thereof; as the rich man took the poor man's ewe lamb, Sa2 12:4. If a poor fatherless child has but an ass of his own to get a little money with, they find some colour or other to take it away, because the owner is not able to contest with them. It is all one if a widow has but an ox for what little husbandry she has; under pretence of distraining for some small debt, or arrears of rent, this ox shall be taken for a pledge, though perhaps it is the widow's all. God has taken it among the titles of his honour to be a Father of the fatherless and a judge of the widows; and therefore those will not be reckoned his friends that do not to their utmost protect and help them; but those he will certainly reckon with as his enemies that vex and oppress them. 3. They take all occasions to offer personal abuses to them, Job 24:4. They will mislead them if they can when they meet them on the high-way, so that the poor and needy are forced to hide themselves from them, having no other way to secure themselves from them. They love in their hearts to banter people, and to make fools of them, and do them a mischief if they can, especially to triumph over poor people, whom they turn out of the way of getting relief, threaten to punish them as vagabonds, and so force them to abscond, and laugh at them when they have done. Some understand those barbarous actions (Job 24:9, Job 24:10) to be done by those oppressors that pretend law for what they do: They pluck the fatherless from the breast; that is, having made poor infants fatherless, they make them motherless too; having taken away the father's life, they break the mother's heart, and so starve the children and leave them to perish. Pharaoh and Herod plucked children from the breast to the sword; and we read of children brought forth to the murderers, Hos 9:13. Those are inhuman murderers indeed that can with so much pleasure suck innocent blood. They take a pledge of the poor, and so they rob the spital; nay, they take the poor themselves for a pledge (as some read it), and probably it was under this pretence that they plucked the fatherless from the breast, distraining them for slaves, as Neh 5:5. Cruelty to the poor is great wickedness and cries aloud for vengeance. Those who show no mercy to such as lie at their mercy shall themselves have judgment without mercy. Another instance of their barbarous treatment of those they have advantage against is that they take from them even their necessary food and raiment; they squeeze them so with their extortion that they cause them to go naked without clothing (Job 24:10) and so catch their death. And if a poor hungry family has gleaned a sheaf of corn, to make a little cake of, that they may eat it and die, even that they take away from them, being well pleased to see them perish for want, while they themselves are fed to the full. 4. They are very oppressive to the labourers they employ in their service. They not only give them no wages, though the labourer is worthy of his hire (and this is a crying sin, Jam 5:4), but they will not so much as give them meat and drink: Those that carry their sheaves are hungry; so some read it (Job 24:10), and it agrees with Job 24:11, that those who make oil within their walls, and with a great deal of toil labour at the wine-presses, yet suffer thirst, which was worse than muzzling the mouth of the ox that treads out the corn. Those masters forget that they have a Master in heaven who will not allow the necessary supports of life to their servants and labourers, not caring whether they can live by their labour or no. 5. It is not only among the poor country people, but in the cities also, that we see the tears of the oppressed (Job 24:12): Men groan from out of the city, where the rich merchants and traders are as cruel with their poor debtors as the landlords in the country are with their poor tenants. In cities such cruel actions as these are more observed than in obscure corners of the country and the wronged have easier access to justice to right themselves; and yet the oppressors there fear neither the restraints of the law nor the just censures of their neighbours, but the oppressed groan and cry out like wounded men, and can no more ease and help themselves, for the oppressors are inexorable and deaf to their groans.
II. He speaks of robbers, and those that do wrong by downright force, as the bands of the Sabeans and Chaldeans, which had lately plundered him. He does not mention them particularly, lest he should seem partial to his own cause, and to judge of men (as we are apt to do) by what they are to us; but among the Arabians, the children of the east (Job's country), there were those that lived by spoil and rapine, making incursions upon their neighbours, and robbing travellers. See how they are described here, and what mischief they do, Job 24:5-8. 1. Their character is that they are as wild asses in the desert, untamed, untractable, unreasonable, Ishmael's character (Gen 16:12), fierce and furious, and under no restraint of law or government, Jer 2:23, Jer 2:24. They choose the deserts for their dwelling, that they may be lawless and unsociable, and that they may have opportunity of doing the more mischief. The desert is indeed the fittest place for such wild people, Job 39:6. But no desert can set men out of the reach of God's eye and hand. 2. Their trade is to steal, and to make a prey of all about them. They have chosen it as their trade; it is their work, because there is more to be got by it, and it is got more easily, than by an honest calling. They follow it as their trade; they follow it closely; they go forth to it as their work, as man goes forth to his labour, Psa 104:23. They are diligent and take pains at it: They rise betimes for a prey. If a traveller be out early, they will be out as soon to rob him. They live by it as a man lives by his trade: The wilderness (not the grounds there but the roads there) yieldeth food for them and for their children; they maintain themselves and their families by robbing on the high-way, and bless themselves in it without any remorse of compassion or conscience, and with as much security as if it were honestly got; as Ephraim, Hos 12:7, Hos 12:8. 3. See the mischief they do to the country. They not only rob travellers, but they make incursions upon their neighbours, and reap every one his corn in the field (Job 24:6), that is, they enter upon other people's ground, cut their corn, and carry it away as freely as if it were their own. Even the wicked gather the vintage, and it is their wickedness; or, as we read it, They gather the vintage of the wicked, and so one wicked man is made a scourge to another. What the wicked got by extortion (which is their way of stealing) these robbers get from them in their way of stealing; thus oftentimes are the spoilers spoiled, Isa 33:1. 4. The misery of those that fall into their hands (Job 24:7, Job 24:8): They cause the naked, whom they have stripped, not leaving them the clothes to their backs, to lodge, in the cold nights, without clothing, so that they are wet with the showers of the mountains, and, for want of a better shelter, embrace the rock, and are glad of a cave or den in it to preserve them from the injuries of the weather. Eliphaz had charged Job with such inhumanity as this, concluding that Providence would not thus have stripped him if he had not first stripped the naked of their clothing, Job 22:6. Job here tells him there were those that were really guilty of those crimes with which he was unjustly charged and yet prospered and had success in their villanies, the curse they laid themselves under working invisibly; and Job thinks it more just to argue as he did, from an open notorious course of wickedness inferring a secret and future punishment, than to argue as Eliphaz did, who from nothing but present trouble inferred a course of past secret iniquity. The impunity of these oppressors and spoilers is expressed in one word (Job 24:12): Yet God layeth not folly to them, that is, he does not immediately prosecute them with his judgments for these crimes, nor make them examples, and so evince their folly to all the world. He that gets riches, and not by right, at his end shall be a fool, Jer 17:11. But while he prospers he passes for a wise man, and God lays not folly to him until he saith, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee, Luk 12:20.
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 1–12. Public domain.
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Olympiodorus of AlexandriaAD 600
COMMENTARY ON JOB 24:9-12
“They have snatched the fatherless from the breast.” They have lamentably and mercilessly taken away the child who still nursed and hanged from his mother’s breast. “And they have deprived the outcast,” that is, they have also deprived the outcast of his properties by taking away what he had. “They have wrongfully caused others to sleep without clothing.” By wrongfully stripping others, who owed them nothing, they have caused them to love rest. “They have taken away the morsel of the hungry.” They have reduced them to extreme poverty and starvation. “They have unjustly laid ambush in narrow places.” They have laid ambush in hidden places; in fact, in larger places and roads they wait in ambush for those who have no chance to escape.“And they,” that is, all the impious persons, “have not known the righteous way.” “They have been cast forth from their cities and their houses.” This refers to those who wantonly sleep without clothing. They [the fatherless] have, in fact, suffered these things from these criminals, after being driven out of their city and their houses.
“And the soul of the children has groaned aloud.” From the bottom of their heart [they groaned], because they had no parents any longer who provided them with food.
Gregory the DialogistAD 604
66. What he calls naked he repeats in the words without clothing, but it is one thing to be naked and another thing to go naked. Thus every person that does neither what is good nor what is bad is naked and idle; but he that does what is evil ‘goes naked,’ in that without the covering of good practice he is going by the road of wickedness. But there are some who, as knowing the evil of their wickedness, are in haste to be filled with the bread of righteousness, and hunger to receive the sayings of Holy Scripture; and these, as often as they turn over in thought the sentences of the Fathers for the improvement of the mind, as it were from a good crop they carry ears of corn. And so ‘from the naked and those going without clothing and a hungered, Heretics take away ears of corn;’ in that whether any persons be idle and never exercise themselves in any thing good, or whether they are going by the way of shamelessness without the covering of good practice, even if they at any time have now the desire to return to repentance, and long for the food of the word, from those same being a hungered they take away the ears of corn, because in the minds of those persons by mischievous persuasions they destroy the sentences of the Fathers. Nor do we improperly say that the ears of corn signify the sentences of the Fathers, in that often whilst they are delivered in forms of figurative diction, we remove the covering of the letter from them like the chaff of corn, that we may be regaled with the marrow of the Spirit.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
Job 24:10 serves as a stark and poignant lament within Job's discourse, vividly portraying the profound injustices and human suffering inflicted by ruthless oppressors. This verse specifically highlights the systematic deprivation of the most fundamental human necessities—clothing and sustenance—from the vulnerable. It underscores a complete disregard for human dignity and life, encapsulating Job's deep bewilderment and anguish over the apparent impunity of the wicked and the perplexing delay of divine justice in the face of such egregious moral depravity.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Job 24:10 employs several powerful Literary Devices to convey its message of profound injustice. Imagery is central, with the vivid pictures of "naked without clothing" and "taking away the sheaf from the hungry" creating a visceral sense of the victims' destitution and the oppressors' cruelty. These images are not abstract but concrete, evoking empathy and outrage. The verse also utilizes Parallelism, specifically synonymous parallelism, where the second clause ("and they take away the sheaf from the hungry") reinforces and intensifies the meaning of the first ("They cause [him] to go naked without clothing"). Both clauses describe acts of deprivation of fundamental necessities, amplifying the theme of ruthless exploitation. Furthermore, the stark contrast between the oppressors' actions and the victims' extreme vulnerability creates a powerful sense of Pathos, designed to elicit a strong emotional response and underscore the moral outrage inherent in Job's lament.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Job 24:10 stands as a stark biblical testament to the reality of human depravity and the pervasive nature of injustice in a fallen world. It challenges simplistic notions of divine retribution, forcing a deeper theological reflection on why God permits such suffering and evil to persist, at least for a time. While Job grapples with the apparent delay of divine judgment, the verse implicitly affirms God's ultimate awareness of these injustices, even if His intervention is not immediate. It highlights the biblical emphasis on caring for the poor and vulnerable, contrasting the oppressors' actions with God's own character as a defender of the defenseless. Theologically, it points to the tension between God's sovereignty and human free will, and the mystery of suffering that permeates the human experience, a mystery that the book of Job explores without offering easy answers, but always pointing to God's ultimate wisdom and justice.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Job 24:10 serves as a timeless mirror reflecting the enduring realities of injustice and human suffering in our world. It compels us, as believers, to move beyond passive observation and engage actively with the plight of the vulnerable. This verse challenges us to recognize that true faith is not merely intellectual assent but a compassionate response to the needs of others, particularly those stripped of dignity and basic necessities. It calls us to advocate for systemic change, to speak out against exploitation, and to actively practice generosity and mercy, remembering that our actions toward the "least of these" are seen by God. While Job wrestled with the timing of divine justice, we are reminded that God sees every act of oppression and will ultimately bring all deeds to light. Our call is to embody God's heart for justice and compassion in the present, trusting in His ultimate sovereignty and the promise of a future where righteousness will prevail.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why does Job focus so much on the prosperity of the wicked if God is sovereign?
Answer: Job's focus on the prosperity of the wicked, as seen in Job 24 and throughout his discourse, is central to his theological struggle. He is directly challenging the conventional wisdom of his friends, who rigidly adhere to the retribution principle—the idea that God always immediately rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked. Job observes that, in reality, the wicked often flourish while the righteous suffer, which deeply contradicts his friends' theology and his own understanding of a just God. His lament is not a denial of God's sovereignty but a profound wrestling with the manner and timing of divine justice. He seeks to understand why a sovereign God permits such blatant injustice to persist, even to the point of questioning God's immediate involvement in the world's moral order. This struggle ultimately leads to a deeper, more nuanced understanding of God's wisdom and sovereignty, which transcends human comprehension, as revealed in God's speeches from the whirlwind in Job 38.
What is the significance of "nakedness" and "sheaf" in this verse?
Answer: The "nakedness" and the "sheaf" are powerful symbols of ultimate deprivation and vulnerability in the ancient Near Eastern context. "Nakedness" (Hebrew: ʻârôwm') signifies not just a lack of clothing but a complete stripping away of dignity, protection, and social standing. In a society where clothing provided warmth, modesty, and often indicated social status, being left naked was a profound humiliation and exposed one to the elements and further harm. The "sheaf" (Hebrew: ʻômer'), a bundle of harvested grain, represents the most basic form of sustenance and the fruit of agricultural labor. For the "hungry" to have their sheaf taken away means they are deprived of their very means of survival, facing starvation. Together, these images illustrate the extreme cruelty and callousness of the oppressors, who deny the most fundamental human needs, leaving their victims utterly destitute and at the brink of death. These specific deprivations underscore the severity of the injustice Job observes, making the oppressors' actions particularly heinous in a culture that valued hospitality and care for the poor, as exemplified in Leviticus 19:9-10.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Job 24:10, with its agonizing depiction of the oppressed stripped of their most basic necessities, finds profound Christ-centered fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus. While Job grappled with the seeming absence of immediate divine justice, Jesus perfectly embodies God's heart for the poor and marginalized, not only identifying with their suffering but actively entering into it. He is the ultimate "sheaf" of life, the "bread of life" as declared in John 6:35, who freely gives Himself to satisfy the spiritual hunger of humanity. Furthermore, Jesus Himself was "stripped naked" on the cross, as recounted in Matthew 27:28, enduring ultimate humiliation and exposure, not as a victim of human oppression in the same way, but as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, as proclaimed in John 1:29, thereby addressing the root cause of all injustice and human depravity. His kingdom, inaugurated by His first coming and consummated at His second, promises true justice and provision for all, where the hungry will be filled and the naked clothed, a promise echoed in Luke 1:53. Ultimately, Christ's work on the cross and His future reign assure us that the injustices lamented by Job will be fully rectified, and a new heavens and new earth will emerge where righteousness dwells and the vulnerable are forever protected, as promised in 2 Peter 3:13.