to reach (literally or figuratively) · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
landmarks
גְּבֻל֥וֹתge.vu.Lot
H1367
a boundary · noun, common feminine plural absolute
away
גָּ֝זְל֗וּga.ze.Lu
H1497
to pluck off · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
flocks
עֵ֥דֶר'E.der
H5739
an arrangement · noun, common masculine singular absolute
feed
וַיִּרְעֽוּvai.yir.'U
H7462
to tend a flock · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
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 19:14 Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour’s landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land t…
Deuteronomy 27:17 Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour’s landmark. And all the people shall say, Amen.
Proverbs 23:10 Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
Proverbs 22:28 Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.
Hosea 5:10 The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound: therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.
Job 1:15 And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alon…
Job 1:17 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried…
Job 5:5 Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 24:1-12
Job's friends had been very positive in it that they should soon see the fall of wicked people, how much soever they might prosper for a while. By no means, says Job; though times are not hidden from the Almighty, yet those that know him do not presently see his day, Job 24:1. 1. He takes it for granted that times are not hidden from the Almighty; past times are not hidden from his judgment (Ecc 3:15), present times are not hidden from his providence (Mat 10:29), future times are not hidden from his prescience, Act 15:18. God governs the world, and therefore we may be sure he takes cognizance of it. Bad times are not hidden from him, though the bad men that make the times bad say one to anot…
Instances of the wicked doing the worst deeds with seeming impunity (Job 24:2-24).
Some--the wicked.
landmarks--boundaries between different pastures (Deu 19:14; Pro 22:28).
John Gill on Job 24:2
Some remove the landmarks,.... Anciently set to distinguish one man's land from another, to secure property, and preserve from encroachments; but some were so wicked as either secretly in the night to remove them, or openly to do it, having power on their side, pretending they were wrongly located; this was not only prohibited by the law of God, and pronounced an accursed thing, Deuteronomy 19:14; but was reckoned so before the law was given, being known to be such by the light of nature, as what was now, and here condemned, was before that law was in being; and so we find that this was accounted an execrable thing among the Heathens, who had a deity they called Jupiter Terminalis, who was a…
1 Wherefore are not bounds reserved by the Almighty,
And they who honour Him see not His days?
2 They remove the landmarks,
They steal flocks and shepherd them.
3 They carry away the ass of the orphan,
And distrain the ox of the widow.
4 They thrust the needy out of the way,
The poor of the land are obliged to slink away together.
The supposition that the text originally stood מדּוּע לרשׁעים משּׁדּי is natural; but it is at once destroyed by the fact that Job 24:1 becomes thereby disproportionately long, and yet cannot be divided into two lines of comparatively independent contents. In fact, לרשׁעים is by no means absolutely necessary. The usage of the language assumes it, according to which…
The Church Fathers
"Others removed the landmarks." It must be noticed, in this reproof of human vices, that they are weighed more lightly or more seriously according to their effect on the virtue of soul. Thus Job and his friends are affected in different ways by different vices; the friends only accuse the acts of inhumanity, whereas Job describes the crimes of iniquity, violence, robbery, lewdness, pride and impiety.
Others remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed them. ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION Whom does he denote by the title of 'others,' saving Heretics, who to the bosom of Holy Church are strangers? For they the same persons remove landmarks, in that the constitutions of the Fathers they by walking awry do overstep. Concerning which same constitutions it is written, Remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set. And these violently take away the flocks, and feed them, in that all the inexperienced, by wicked persuasions, they draw to themselves, and with baneful lessons nourish them for slaughtering. For that the ignorant multitudes are represented by the designation of 'flocks,' the words of the Spouse bear witness, Who addresses His Espoused, in the words, Except thou know thyself, O beautiful amongst women, depart forth, and go after the footsteps of the flocks; i.e. 'excepting that by living well, thou knowest thine honour whereby thou art created after the likeness of God, depart forth from the sight of the contemplation of Me, and follow the life of the uninstructed multitudes.
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
Field — (Heb. sadeh), a cultivated field, but unenclosed. It is applied to any cultivated ground or pasture (Gen. 29:2; 31:4; 34:7), or tillage (Gen. 37:7; 47:24). It is also applied to woodland (Ps. 132:6)…
Landmark — A boundary line indicated by a stone, stake, etc. (Deut. 19:14; 27:17; Prov. 22:28; 23:10; Job 24:2). Landmarks could not be removed without incurring the severe displeasure of God.
Dishonesty · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Homicide · 24:22; — 24:22;
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).
This inventory of criminal behaviors focuses first on crimes against the weak (24:2-12) and then on the criminals themselves (24:13-17).
24:2 The law, wisdom literature, and prophecy all condemned the moving of boundary markers (Deut 19:14; 27:17; Prov 22:28; 23:10; see study note on Hos 5:10).
Rashi on Job 24:2
[There are some who] remove the landmarks Those who habitually remove the landmarks, who purchase fields adjoining the fields of others, and at night widen their [own] borders by placing their fences at night within the territory of their neighbors. (This is the meaning of removing the landmarks, which is translated into Aramaic as מְשַׁנֶּה, changing, because they would change the boundaries.) And they violently take away a flock and pasture it.
