Job 24:1
in Job 24“Why does the Almighty not reserve times for judgment? Why may those who know Him never see His days?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Why are times not laid up by the Almighty? And why do not they that know him see his days?
KJV
Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?
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This verse in Job 24
Commentary
10 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Why, seeing times are not hidden froth the Almighty - Dr. Good renders this, “Wherefore are not doomdays kept by the Almighty. So that his offenders may eye his periods?” Dr. Noyes: “Why are not times of punishment reserved by the Almighty. And why do not they, who regard him, see his judgments?” Jerome, “Times are not hidden from the Almighty; but they who know him are ignorant of his days.” The Septuagint, “But why have set times - ὧραι hōrai, escaped the notice - ἔλαθον elathon - of the Almighty, and the wicked transgressed all bounds?
This site's exposition
Why does the Almighty not reserve times for judgment
Job opens the list by asking why the Almighty does not "reserve times for judgment". The question takes for granted that judgment belongs to God. Delitzsch notes that the whole chapter answers this verse with evidence, a list of crimes done in plain sight with no visible consequence.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
Times are not hidden from the Almighty; they that know Him, know not His days. What are called 'the days' of God, save His very Eternity itself? which is sometimes described by the announcement of 'one day,' as where it is written, For one day in Thy courts is better than a thousand. But sometimes on account of its length it is represented by the expression of a number of days, whereof it is written, Thy years are throughout all generations. We then are wrapped up within the divisions of time, through this that we are created beings.
In the preceding chapter Job proved that he had not been punished because of malice as Eliphaz had asserted. (22:5) Now he wants to clearly show that he does not propose that God does not have care of human affairs, as Eliphaz had charged. (22:12) …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
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, Luke xviii.
That secret sinners often pass undiscovered, ver. 13-18. That God punishes such by secret judgments, and reserves them for future judgment, ver. 19-25.
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), that the punishment of wicked people is not so visible and apparent as his friends supposed, and then proves it by an induction of particulars. Those that openly do wrong to their poor neighbours are not reckoned with, nor the injured righted (
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3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Why is it that, seeing that the times of punishment (Eze 30:3; "time" in the same sense) are not hidden from the Almighty, they who know Him (His true worshippers, Job 18:21) do not see His days (of vengeance; Or, with UMBREIT less simply, making the parallel clauses more nicely balanced, Why are not times of punishment hoarded up ("laid up";
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty - Mr. Good translates: “Wherefore are not doomsdays kept by the Almighty, so that his offenders may eye their periods?” Doomsdays are here used in the same sense as term times; and the wish is, that God would appoint such times that the falsely accused might look forward to them with comfort; knowing that, on their arrival, they should have a fair hearing, and their innocence be publicly declared; and their detractors, and the unjust in general, meet with their deserts. But God reserves the knowledge of these things to himself. “The holy patriarch,” says Mr. Good, “has uniformly admitted that in the aggregate scale of Providence the just are rewarded and the wicked punished for their respective deeds, in some period or other of their lives. But he has contended in various places, and especially in Job 21:7-13, that the exceptions to this general rule are numerous: so numerous, as to be sufficient to render the whole scheme of providential interposition perfectly mysterious and incomprehensible, Job 23:8-12; so in the passage before us: if the retribution ye speak of be universal, and which I am ready to admit to a certain extent to be true and unquestionable, I not only ask, Why do the just ever suffer in the midst of their righteousness? but, Why do not the wicked see such retribution displayed before their eyes by stated judgments, so that they may at one and the same time know and tremble?”
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Why were the times not hidden from the Almighty? This is a plaint. Why were the times of man’s days not hidden from the Holy One, blessed be He, that He should not know the day of man’s death?
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
9 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מַדּ֗וּעַ | madua' | why? | H4069 → | 72 times |
| מִ֭שַּׁדַּי | mishadai | from [the] Almighty | H7706 → | 48 times |
| לֹא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| נִצְפְּנ֣וּ | nitzpenu | have they been stored up | H6845 → | 32 times |
| עִתִּ֑ים | ʾitim | times | H6256 → | 296 times |
| וְ֝יֹדְעָ֗יו | veyodeov | and [those who] know him | H3045 → | 945 times |
| לֹא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| חָ֥זוּ | chazu | have they seen? | H2372 → | 55 times |
| יָמָֽיו׃ | yamav | days his | H3117 → | 2304 times |
מַדּ֗וּעַwhy?
madua'H4069 →72 times
מִ֭שַּׁדַּיfrom [the] Almighty
mishadaiH7706 →48 times
לֹא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
נִצְפְּנ֣וּhave they been stored up
nitzpenuH6845 →32 times
עִתִּ֑יםtimes
ʾitimH6256 →296 times
וְ֝יֹדְעָ֗יוand [those who] know him
veyodeovH3045 →945 times
לֹא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
חָ֥זוּhave they seen?
chazuH2372 →55 times
יָמָֽיו׃days his
yamavH3117 →2304 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Acts 1:7Jesus replied, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority.
it leads to
- Matthew 24:36
No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:1–2
Now about the times and seasons, brothers, we do not need to write to you.
- Mark 13:32
No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
- Deuteronomy 29:29
The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, so that we may follow all the words of this law.
- Mark 10:40
But to sit at My right or left is not Mine to grant. These seats belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”
- Matthew 24:36
Through
Psalms 36:10Extend Your loving devotion to those who know You, and Your righteousness to the upright in heart.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 24:7
I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD. They will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with all their…
- Hebrews 8:11
No longer will each one teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest.
- Jeremiah 24:7
Through
Ecclesiastes 3:17I said in my heart, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, since there is a time for every activity and every deed.”
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 5:10
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad.
- 2 Corinthians 5:10
About Job
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XVI; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.