Job 24:18

He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
swift	קַֽל kal-	H7031	light · adjective, masculine singular absolute
waters	פְּנֵי pe.nei-	H6440	the face (as the part that turns) · noun, common masculine plural construct
portion	חֶלְקָתָ֣ם chel.ka.Tam	H2513	properly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
cursed	תְּקֻלַּ֣ל te.ku.Lal	H7043	to be (causatively · verb, pual imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
earth	בָּאָ֑רֶץ ba.'A.retz	H776	the earth (at large · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
beholdeth	יִ֝פְנֶה Yif.neh	H6437	to turn · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
way	דֶּ֣רֶךְ De.rekh	H1870	a road (as trodden) · noun, common both genders singular construct
vineyards	כְּרָמִֽים ke.ra.Mim	H3754	a garden or vineyard · noun, common masculine plural 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

Deuteronomy 28:16-20 Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.
Job 9:26 They are passed away as the swift ships: as the eagle that hasteth to the prey.
Job 22:16 Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood:
Psalms 58:7 Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.
Psalms 69:22 Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap.
Psalms 73:18-20 Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.
Proverbs 3:33 The curse of the LORD is in the house of the wicked: but he blesseth the habitation of the just.
Isaiah 23:10 Pass through thy land as a river, O daughter of Tarshish: there is no more strength.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 24:18–end

Job here, in the conclusion of his discourse, I. Gives some further instances of the wickedness of these cruel bloody men. 1. Some are pirates and robbers at sea. To this many learned interpreters apply those difficult expressions (Job 24:18), He is swift upon the waters. Privateers choose those ships that are the best sailors. In these swift ships they cruise from one channel to another, to pick up prizes; and this brings them in so much wealth that their portion is cursed in the earth, and they behold not the way of the vineyards, that is (as bishop Patrick explains it), they despise the employment of those who till the ground and plant vineyards as poor and unprofitable. But others make t…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 24:18

In these verses Job quotes the opinions of his adversaries ironically; he quoted them so before (Job 21:7-21). In Job 24:22-24, he states his own observation as the opposite. You say, "The sinner is swift, that is, swiftly passes away (as a thing floating) on the surface of the waters" (Ecc 11:1; Hos 10:7). is cursed--by those who witness their "swift" destruction. beholdeth not--"turneth not to"; figuratively, for He cannot enjoy his pleasant possessions (Job 20:17; Job 15:33). the way of the vineyards--including his fields, fertile as vineyards; opposite to "the way of the desert."

John Gill on Job 24:18

He is swift as the waters,.... Or "upon the face of the waters" (y); which some interpret of another set and sort of wicked men, guilty of like crimes, not on land, but upon the mighty waters; pirates, such that commit robberies upon the high seas; who generally choose the swiftest vessels to run from place to place for their prey, and to carry off their booty when pursued; whose manner of life is detestable to other persons; and especially they are cursed by those on land, who suffer by robbing the ships of their goods they send abroad; but these men best like such a manner of life, and prefer it to any thing by land, to agriculture or cultivation of vineyards, which they have no regard unt…

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The Church Fathers

"It is light on the surface of the water:" it is, here, to oppose to the purely terrestrial men, the spiritual men who penetrates the light and a celestial agility, and on whom death, to which they are condemned by the flawed nature of their bodies, relaxes only light shadows. One could also say that these words, "He is light on the surface of the water," are understood by those who confess the faith by receiving baptism. "May their share be cursed; That what they have sought is forever sterile.
— Augustine of Hippo, ANNOTATIONS ON THE BOOK OF JOB (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

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

Citizens · General references — General references
Homicide · 24:22; — 24:22;
Water · Illustrative: (Rapidly flowing away,) of the career of the wicked — Illustrative: (Rapidly flowing away,) of the career of the wicked

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).

Job 24:18

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 24:18–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 24:18

John Gill on Job 24:18

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Job 24:18

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 24:18–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 24:18

John Gill on Job 24:18

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Job 24:18-21

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Job 24:18-24

Rashi on Job 24:18