the dark · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
through
חָתַ֥רcha.Tar
H2864
to force a passage · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
houses
בָּ֫תִּ֥יםba.Tim
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine plural absolute
marked
חִתְּמוּchi.te.mu-
H2856
to close up · verb, piel perfect, 3rd person common plural
daytime
יוֹמָ֥םyo.Mam
H3119
daily · adverb
know
יָ֥דְעוּYa.de.'u
H3045
to know (properly · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
light
אֽוֹר'or
H216
illumination or (concrete) luminary (in every sense · noun, common feminine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
John 3:20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
Ephesians 5:11-13 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
Exodus 22:2-3 If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him.
Job 24:13 They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.
Job 38:12-13 Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place;
Ezekiel 12:5-7 Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and carry out thereby.
Ezekiel 12:12 And the prince that is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry…
Matthew 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 24:13-17
These verses describe another sort of sinners who therefore go unpunished, because they go undiscovered. They rebel against the light, Job 24:13. Some understand it figuratively: they sin against the light of nature, the light of God's law, and that of their own consciences; they profess to know God, but they rebel against the knowledge they have of him, and will not be guided and governed, commanded and controlled, by it. Others understand it literally: they have the day-light and choose the night as the most advantageous season for their wickedness. Sinful works are therefore called works of darkness, because he that does evil hates the light (Joh 3:20), knows not the ways thereof, that is…
dig through--Houses in the East are generally built of sun-dried mud bricks (so Mat 6:19). "Thieves break through," literally, "dig through" (Eze 12:7).
had marked--Rather, as in Job 9:7, "They shut themselves up" (in their houses); literally, "they seal up."
for themselves--for their own ends, namely, to escape detection.
know not--shun.
John Gill on Job 24:16
In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime,.... Which some understand of adulterers last mentioned, who, having observed where beautiful women dwell, mark their houses, and the way to them, and the best way into them, and in the dark get in at windows, or by breaking open doors get to the persons they lust after; but as such steps would be neither safe nor prudent, so they are not necessary; such sort of persons get admittance in an easier way, either by bribing servants, or by a previous agreement with the adulteress herself: rather this is to be understood of the thief and his companions, before spoken of; or designs another sort of thieves, su…
16 In the dark they dig through houses,
By day they shut themselves up,
They will know nothing of the light.
17 For the depth of night is to them even as the dawn of the morning,
For they know the terrors of the depth of night.
The handiwork of the thief, which is but slightly referred to in Job 24:14, is here more particularly described. The indefinite subj. of חתר, as is manifest from what follows, is the band of thieves. The בּ, which is elsewhere joined with chtr (to break into anything), is here followed by the acc. בּתּים (to be pronounced bâttim, not bottim),
(Note: Vid., Aben-Ezra on Exo 12:7. The main proof that it is to be pronounced bâttim is, that written exactly it is בּתּים,…
The Church Fathers
"He pierces the houses in darkness. Here he recalls other guilty actions. "During the day they sailed," to hide themselves. "They did not know the light. "
In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the day time; they know not the light. For what is there here denoted by the title of 'houses' but consciences, wherein we dwell, when we do any thing, busying ourselves with it? Whence it is said to one on being healed, Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done unto thee; i.e. henceforth, secure from the evil habit of sin, turn back to thy conscience, and be thou roused into the voice of preaching.' And so when in the present world the righteous are brightened by the day of prosperity, to those persons the leaders of false tenets are afraid to recommend what is wrong. But they search out counsels, with all care they await the abasement of their prosperity, that in the darkness of adversity they may by their persuading dig through the minds of those, to whom whilst living prosperously they never presumed to speak wrong things, whom as soon as they see under adversity they rise up and maintain, that no otherwise saving in desert of their sins those suffer such things; because loving the glory of the present life alone, the stroke they take for condemnation. So 'in the dark they dig through houses,' in that the minds of the good by their mere misfortune alone to corrupt is their endeavour. Now it is well said, which they had marked in the day time, in that when they saw the righteous to have been made to shine with the light of prosperity, because they were prevented speaking, they were only at liberty for concocting malevolent designs against them. But whether it be heretics or any bad persons, they rejoice when they see the righteous in a depressed condition, whereas when they see those break forth to the height of power for ruling, they are confounded, they are filled with fears, they are consumed with misery.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Dwell — Tents were in primitive times the common dwellings of men. Houses were afterwards built, the walls of which were frequently of mud (Job 24:16; Matt. 6:19, 20) or of sun-dried bricks. God “dwells in…
Darkness · The wicked: Perpetuate their designs in — The wicked: Perpetuate their designs in
Homicide · 24:22; — 24:22;
Houses · Of brick or clay: Easily broken through — Of brick or clay: Easily broken through
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
ignores their moaning: It appeared to Job that contrary to God’s own character (Exod 2:23-24; Ps 12:5), God neither relieved the plight of the wronged (Job 24:2-12) nor hindered the wicked from harming their victims (24:13-17).
Rashi on Job 24:16
by day, they lock themselves in Those who are weaker than they, too weak to commit robbery by day, would dig under houses at night; by day they were sealed and closed up in their houses.
they know no light They did not recognize the light because it was not [shining at] the time of their prowling.
