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24:1  “·I wish the Almighty would set a time for judging [L Why are times not kept by the Almighty/Shaddai?]. ·Those who know God do [L Why do those who know God …?] not see such a day.
24:2  ·Wicked people [L They] ·take other people’s land [L move boundaries; C move boundary markers]; they steal flocks and ·take them to new pastures [L pasture them].
24:3  They chase away the orphan’s donkey and take the widow’s ox ·when she has no money [L as a pledge; Deut. 24:6, 10–13, 17].
24:4  They push needy people off the path; all the poor of the land hide from them.
24:5  The poor become like wild donkeys in the ·desert [wilderness] who go about their ·job of finding food [L work]. ·The desert gives them [L In the desert they forage for] food for their children.
24:6  They ·gather hay and straw in the fields [L reap in fields not their own] and ·pick up leftover grapes [L glean] from the vineyard of the wicked.
24:7  They spend the night naked, because they have no clothes, nothing to cover themselves in the cold.
24:8  They are soaked from mountain ·rains [storms] and ·stay near [hug; embrace] the ·large rocks [cliffs] because they have no shelter.
24:9  The ·fatherless child [orphan] is grabbed from its mother’s breast; they take a poor mother’s baby ·to pay for what she owes [L as a pledge; 24:3].
24:10  So the poor ·go [wander] around naked without any clothes; they carry bundles of grain but still go hungry;
24:11  they crush olives to get oil and grapes to get wine, but they still go thirsty.
24:12  Dying people groan in the city, and the ·injured [or living dead] cry out for help, but God ·accuses no one of doing wrong [or does not hear/react to their prayers].
24:13  “Those who ·fight [rebel] against the light do not ·know [recognize] God’s ways or stay in his paths.
24:14  ·When the day is over [or At the light], the murderers get up to ·kill [slay] the poor and needy. At night they go about like thieves [Ex. 22:2].
24:15  ·Those who are guilty of adultery [L The eyes of the adulterer] watch for the ·night [dusk], thinking, ‘No ·one [L eye] will see us,’ and they keep their faces covered [Prov. 7:6–9].
24:16  In the dark, evil people break into houses [v. 14]. In the daytime they ·shut [seal] themselves up in their own houses, because they ·want nothing to do with [L do not know] the light.
24:17  Darkness is like morning to all these evil people who ·make friends with [L recognize] the terrors of darkness.
24:18  “·They [The wicked] are ·like foam floating [or like scum; L quick] on the water. Their ·part of the land [lot; portion] is cursed; no one ·uses the road that goes by [L turns toward] their vineyards. [C This seems to contradict Job’s contention that the wicked escape judgment. Perhaps these are his opponents’ views, or his wish.]
24:19  As ·heat and dryness [the desert and heat] ·quickly melt the snow [L steal away the snow waters], so ·the grave [L Sheol] quickly takes away the sinners.
24:20  ·Their mothers [L The womb] forget them, and worms ·will eat their bodies [L think they are sweet]. They will not be remembered, so wickedness is broken in pieces like a ·stick [L tree; C perhaps by wind or lightening; Ps. 29:5–6; Ezek. 17:24].
24:21  These evil people ·abuse women who cannot have children [or associate with barren women] ·and show no kindness to widows [or which is not favorable to their widow].
24:22  But God drags away the strong by his power. Even though they ·seem strong [L rise up], they ·do not know how long they will live [L can have no confidence in life].
24:23  God may ·let these evil people feel safe [give them security they can lean on], but ·he is watching [L his eyes are on] their ways.
24:24  For a little while they are ·important [exalted], and then ·they die [L are no more]; they ·are laid low [or give in] and ·buried [L are gathered/drawn in] like everyone else; they ·are cut off [or wither] like the heads of grain.
24:25  If this is not true, who can prove I am ·wrong [L a liar]? Who can show that my words are worth nothing?”