Job 24:4
in Job 24They push the needy off the road and force all the poor of the land into hiding.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
They turn the needy out of the way: The poor of the earth all hide themselves.
KJV
They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.
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This verse in Job 24
Commentary
9 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
Men move boundary stones
on Job 24:2-4
"Men move boundary stones", they "pasture stolen flocks", they "drive away the donkey of the fatherless", and they "take the widow’s ox in pledge". Gill notes that the fatherless and the widow were the weakest members of a household economy, the people law and custom were meant to shield.
This site's exposition
They push the needy off the road
The oppressors now take the road from the poor. Barnes says they crowd the needy from the path and deny them the use of the highway. Henry adds that the poor of the land are forced into hiding, with no other way to keep safe from them.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
Men also usually pity the poor who lack the means of economic survival, and against this he says, "They utterly ruined the road of the poor," for they took from them the ability to procure necessities for themselves by harassing them in many ways. Also …
They have turned the needy out of the way; and have oppressed together the meek of the earth. For by the term of 'poverty,' humility is very often denoted, and very often they that appear gentle and humble, if they have not learnt to maintain discretion, fall by the examples of other men.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
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.
quarantine:anchor (2026-07-29) — cites-ver-19-anchored-1-12
They turn the needy out of the way,....
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.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
They turn the needy out of the way - They will not permit them to go by the accustomed paths; they oblige them to take circuitous routes. When the Marquis of H. was made ranger of Richmond Park, he thought it his duty to shut up a pathway which had existed for a long time; and those who presumed, after this shutting up, to break the fence, and take that path as formerly, were prosecuted.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
They turn the needy out of the way - They crowd the poor out of the path, and thus oppress and injure them. They do not allow them the advantages of the highway. The poor of the earth hide themselves together - For fear of the rich and mighty man. Driven from the society of the rich, without their patronage and friendship, they are obliged to associate together, and find in the wicked man neither protector nor friend. And yet the proud oppressor is not punished.
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יַטּ֣וּ | yatu | they thrust aside | H5186 → | 214 times |
| אֶבְיוֹנִ֣ים | ʾevyonim | needy [people] | H34 → | 61 times |
| מִדָּ֑רֶךְ | midarekh | from [the] path | H1870 → | 707 times |
| יַ֥חַד | yachad | together | H3162 → | 141 times |
| חֻ֝בְּא֗וּ | chubeu | they are made to hide themselves | H2244 → | 33 times |
| עֲנִיֵּי־ | ʾaniyei- | [the] poor [people] of | H6035 → | |
| אָֽרֶץ׃ | ʾaretz | [the] earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
יַטּ֣וּthey thrust aside
yatuH5186 →214 times
אֶבְיוֹנִ֣יםneedy [people]
ʾevyonimH34 →61 times
מִדָּ֑רֶךְfrom [the] path
midarekhH1870 →707 times
יַ֥חַדtogether
yachadH3162 →141 times
חֻ֝בְּא֗וּthey are made to hide themselves
chubeuH2244 →33 times
עֲנִיֵּי־[the] poor [people] of
ʾaniyei-H6035 →
אָֽרֶץ׃[the] earth
ʾaretzH776 →2504 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
Ezekiel 22:29The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy and have exploited the foreign resident without justice.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 22:7
Father and mother are treated with contempt. Within your walls the foreign resident is exploited, the fatherless and the widow are oppressed.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Exodus 23:9
Do not oppress a foreign resident, since you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners; for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
- Psalms 94:6
They kill the widow and the foreigner; they murder the fatherless.
- Ezekiel 22:7
Through
Proverbs 28:28When the wicked come to power, people hide themselves; but when they perish, the righteous flourish.
it leads to
- Proverbs 29:2
When the righteous flourish, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan.
- Proverbs 28:12
When the righteous triumph, there is great glory, but when the wicked rise, men hide themselves.
- Acts 12:23–24
Immediately, because Herod did not give glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.
- Proverbs 29:2
Through
Isaiah 10:2to deprive the poor of fair treatment and withhold justice from the oppressed of My people, to make widows their prey and orphans their plunder.
it leads to
- Malachi 3:5
“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud…
- Malachi 3:5
Through
Amos 2:7They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the earth; they push the needy out of their way. A man and his father have relations with the same girl…
it leads to
- Amos 5:12
For I know that your transgressions are many and your sins are numerous. You oppress the righteous by taking bribes; you deprive the poor of justice in the gate.
- Amos 5:12
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; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XVI; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; 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.