Job 24:8
in Job 24Drenched by mountain rains, they huddle against the rocks for want of shelter.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
They are wet with the showers of the mountains, And embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
KJV
They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
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This verse in Job 24
Commentary
11 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
like wild donkeys in the desert
on Job 24:5-8
The poor now appear "like wild donkeys in the desert", who "go to work foraging for food" while "the wasteland is food for their children". They "glean the vineyards of the wicked". Watson notes that the poor do the labor that feeds their oppressors and own none of the harvest.
This site's exposition
they huddle against the rocks for want of shelter
Stripped of clothing in verse 7, the poor now take the mountain rains without cover. Wesley pictures rain running down the rocks into the caves where they fled, and a cleft in the rock as their only shelter. Barnes notes how suddenly such showers pour from the hills.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
Clothes are not only necessary to keep warm against the cold, but also as a protection against the rain. Thus those left naked by thieves must not only be afflicted by the cold, but also get soaked by the rain. He expresses this saying, "they …
They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the stones for want of a garment. 'The showers of the mountains' are the words of the learned. Of which same 'mountains' it is delivered by the voice of Holy Church; I lifted up mine eyes unto the hills: and so those persons, 'the showers of the mountains wet,' in that the streams of the holy fathers fill them to the full.
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 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.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Wet - With the rain-water, which runs down the rocks or mountains into the caves, to which they fled for shelter. Rock - Are glad when they can find a cleft of a rock in which they may have some protection against the weather.
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
They are wet with the showers of the mountains,....
But no desert can set men out of the reach of God's eye and hand. 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.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
They are wet with the showers of the mountains - Mr. Good thinks that torrents, not showers, is the proper translation of the original זרם zerem; but I think showers of the mountain strictly proper. I have seen many of these in mountainous countries, where the tails of water-spouts have been intercepted and broken, and the outpouring of them would be incredible to those who have never witnessed similar phenomena.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
They are wet with the showers of the mountains - That is, the poor persons, or the travelers whom they have robbed. Hills collect the clouds, and showers seem to pour down from the mountains. These showers often collect and pour down so suddenly that there is scarcely time to seek a shelter. And embrace the rock for want of a shelter - Take refuge beneath a projecting rock. The robbers drive them away from their homes, or plunder them of their tents, and leave them to find a shelter from the storm, or at night, beneath a rock. This agrees exactly with what Niebuhr says of the wandering Arabs near mount Sinai: “Those who cannot afford a tent, spread out a cloth upon four or six stakes; and others spread their cloth near a tree, or endeavor to shelter themselves from the heat and the rain in the cavities of the rocks. Reisebeschreib. i. Thes s. 233.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מִזֶּ֣רֶם | mizerem | from [the] rain of | H2230 → | |
| הָרִ֣ים | harim | [the] mountains | H2022 → | 546 times |
| יִרְטָ֑בוּ | yirtavu | they are wet | H7372 → | |
| וּֽמִבְּלִ֥י | umibeli | and because not | H1097 → | 58 times |
| מַ֝חְסֶ֗ה | machseh | shelter | H4268 → | |
| חִבְּקוּ־ | chibeku- | they embrace | H2263 → | |
| צֽוּר׃ | tzur | [the] rock | H6697 → | 78 times |
מִזֶּ֣רֶםfrom [the] rain of
mizeremH2230 →
הָרִ֣ים[the] mountains
harimH2022 →546 times
יִרְטָ֑בוּthey are wet
yirtavuH7372 →
וּֽמִבְּלִ֥יand because not
umibeliH1097 →58 times
מַ֝חְסֶ֗הshelter
machsehH4268 →
חִבְּקוּ־they embrace
chibeku-H2263 →
צֽוּר׃[the] rock
tzurH6697 →78 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
Hebrews 11:38The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and hid in caves and holes in the ground.
it leads to
- 1 Kings 18:4
for when Jezebel had slaughtered the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty men per cave, providing them with food and water.)
- 1 Samuel 22:1
So David left Gath and took refuge in the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and the rest of his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him there.
- 1 Kings 19:9
There Elijah entered a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
- Isaiah 57:1
The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; devout men are swept away, while no one considers that the righteous are guided from the presence of evil.
- 1 Samuel 24:1–3
After Saul had returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the wilderness of En-gedi.”
- 1 Kings 18:4
Through
Song of Solomon 5:2I sleep, but my heart is awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking: “Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with…
it leads to
- Revelation 3:20
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with Me.
- Song of Solomon 2:14
O my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the crevices of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your countenance is…
- Revelation 3:20
Through
Lamentations 4:5Those who once ate delicacies are destitute in the streets; those brought up in crimson huddle in ash heaps.
it leads to
- Luke 16:19
Now there was a rich man dressed in purple and fine linen, who lived each day in joyous splendor.
- Luke 16:19
About Job
This page draws on 10 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; R. A. Watson, The Book of Job, Expositor's Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.