Job 24:8

Easy-to-Read Version

They are soaked with rain in the mountains. They stay close to the large rocks for shelter. They have no clothes, so they work naked. They carry piles of grain for others, but they go hungry. They press out olive oil and walk on grapes in the winepress, but they have nothing to drink. In the city you can hear the sad sounds of dying people. Those who are hurt cry out for help, but God does not listen. "Some people rebel against the light. They don't know what God wants. They don't live the way he wants. A murderer gets up at dawn and kills poor, helpless people. And at night he becomes a thief. A man who commits adultery waits for the night to come. He thinks, ‘No one will see me,' but still, he covers his face. When it is dark, evil people go out and break into houses. But during the day they lock themselves in their homes to avoid the light. The darkest night is their morning. They are friends with the terrors of darkness. " You say, ‘Evil people are taken away like things carried away in a flood. The land they own is cursed, so no one goes to work in their vineyards. As hot, dry weather melts away the winter snows, so the grave takes away those who have sinned. Their own mothers will forget them. Only the worms will want them. No one will remember them. They will be broken like a rotten stick! These evil people hurt women who have no children to protect them, and they refuse to help widows. By his power God removes the powerful. Even if they have a high position, they cannot be sure of their lives. They might feel safe and secure, but God is watching how they live. They might be successful for a while, but then they will be gone. Like everyone else, they will be cut down like grain.' "I swear these things are true! Who can prove that I lied? Who can show that I am wrong?"

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Drenched by mountain rains,they huddle against the rocks, shelterless.

Hebrew Names Version
They are wet with the showers of the mountains, And embrace the rock for lack of a shelter.

King James Version
They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.

English Standard Version
They are wet with the rain of the mountains and cling to the rock for lack of shelter.

New Century Version
They are soaked from mountain rains and stay near the large rocks because they have no shelter.

New English Translation
They are soaked by mountain rains and huddle in the rocks because they lack shelter.

Amplified Bible
"They are wet from the rain of the mountains And cling to the rock for lack of shelter.

New American Standard Bible
"They are wet from the mountain rains, And they hug the rock for lack of a shelter.

World English Bible
They are wet with the showers of the mountains, And embrace the rock for lack of a shelter.

Geneva Bible (1587)
They are wet with the showres of the moutaines, and they imbrace the rocke for want of a couering.

Legacy Standard Bible
They are wet with the mountain rainsAnd hug the rock for want of a shelter.

Berean Standard Bible
Drenched by mountain rains, they huddle against the rocks for want of shelter.

Contemporary English Version
and during a storm their only shelters are caves among the rocky cliffs.

Complete Jewish Bible
wet with mountain rain, and hugging the rock for lack of shelter.

Darby Translation
They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and for want of a shelter embrace the rock …

George Lamsa Translation
They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of shelter.

Good News Translation
They are drenched by the rain that falls on the mountains, and they huddle beside the rocks for shelter.

Lexham English Bible
They are wet from the rainstorm of the mountains, and they cling to the rock without refuge.

Literal Translation
They are wet with the showers of hills, and embrace the rock for lack of shelter.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
So that when the showers in the mountaynes haue rayned vpon them, & they be all wett, they haue none other sucoure, but to kepe them amonge the rockes.

American Standard Version
They are wet with the showers of the mountains, And embrace the rock for want of a shelter.

Bible in Basic English
They are wet with the rain of the mountains, and get into the cracks of the rock for cover.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.

King James Version (1611)
They are wet with the showres of the mountaines, and imbrace the rocke for want of a shelter.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
They are wet with the showres of the mountaynes, and embrace the rocke for want of a couering.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
They are wet with the drops of the mountains: they have embraced the rock, because they had no shelter.

English Revised Version
They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
whiche men the reynes of munteyns weeten, and thei han noon hilyng, and biclippen stoonys.

Update Bible Version
They are wet with the showers of the mountains, And embrace the rock for want of a shelter.

Webster's Bible Translation
They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.

New King James Version
They are wet with the showers of the mountains, And huddle around the rock for want of shelter.

New Living Translation
They are soaked by mountain showers, and they huddle against the rocks for want of a home.

New Life Bible
They are wet with the mountain rains and stay close to the rocks for cover.

New Revised Standard
They are wet with the rain of the mountains, and cling to the rock for want of shelter.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
With the sweeping rain of the mountains, are they wet, and, through having no shelter, they embrace a rock.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Who are wet, with the showers of the mountains, and having no covering embrace the stones.

Revised Standard Version
They are wet with the rain of the mountains, and cling to the rock for want of shelter.

Young's Literal Translation
From the inundation of hills they are wet, And without a refuge -- have embraced a rock.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"They are wet with the mountain rains And hug the rock for want of a shelter.

Contextual Overview

¹ "Why doesn't God All-Powerful set times for judgment? And why can't his followers know when those times will be? ² "People move property markers to get more of their neighbor's land. People steal flocks and lead them to other grasslands. ³ They steal a donkey that belongs to an orphan. They take a widow's cow until she pays what she owes them. They take a nursing baby from its mother. They take a poor person's child to guarantee a loan. ⁴ They force the poor to move out of their way and to get off the road. ⁵ "The poor are like wild donkeys that go out to the desert to find food. From morning to night they work to gather food for their children. ⁶ They have to work in the fields, harvesting grain. They work for the rich, gathering grapes in their vineyards. ⁷ They must sleep all night without clothes. They have no covers to protect them from the cold. ⁸ They are soaked with rain in the mountains. They stay close to the large rocks for shelter. They have no clothes, so they work naked. They carry piles of grain for others, but they go hungry. They press out olive oil and walk on grapes in the winepress, but they have nothing to drink. In the city you can hear the sad sounds of dying people. Those who are hurt cry out for help, but God does not listen. "Some people rebel against the light. They don't know what God wants. They don't live the way he wants. A murderer gets up at dawn and kills poor, helpless people. And at night he becomes a thief. A man who commits adultery waits for the night to come. He thinks, ‘No one will see me,' but still, he covers his face. When it is dark, evil people go out and break into houses. But during the day they lock themselves in their homes to avoid the light. The darkest night is their morning. They are friends with the terrors of darkness. " You say, ‘Evil people are taken away like things carried away in a flood. The land they own is cursed, so no one goes to work in their vineyards. As hot, dry weather melts away the winter snows, so the grave takes away those who have sinned. Their own mothers will forget them. Only the worms will want them. No one will remember them. They will be broken like a rotten stick! These evil people hurt women who have no children to protect them, and they refuse to help widows. By his power God removes the powerful. Even if they have a high position, they cannot be sure of their lives. They might feel safe and secure, but God is watching how they live. They might be successful for a while, but then they will be gone. Like everyone else, they will be cut down like grain.' "I swear these things are true! Who can prove that I lied? Who can show that I am wrong?" ⁹ They take a nursing baby from its mother. They take a poor person's child to guarantee a loan. They force the poor to move out of their way and to get off the road. "The poor are like wild donkeys that go out to the desert to find food. From morning to night they work to gather food for their children. They have to work in the fields, harvesting grain. They work for the rich, gathering grapes in their vineyards. They must sleep all night without clothes. They have no covers to protect them from the cold. They are soaked with rain in the mountains. They stay close to the large rocks for shelter. ¹⁰ They have no clothes, so they work naked. They carry piles of grain for others, but they go hungry.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

wet: Song of Solomon 5:2

embrace: Lamentations 4:5, Hebrews 11:38

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 24:13 - deliver Psalms 109:10 - General

Cross-References

Genesis 24:4
Go back to my country, to my own people, to find a wife for my son Isaac. Bring her here to him."

Genesis 24:6
Abraham said to him, "No, don't take my son to that place.

Genesis 24:17
Then the servant ran to her and said, "Please give me a little water to drink from your jar."

Genesis 24:20
So Rebekah quickly poured all the water from her jar into the drinking trough for the camels. Then she ran to the well to get more water, and she gave water to all the camels.

Numbers 30:5
But if her father hears about the promise and does not agree, she is free from her promise. She does not have to do what she promised. Her father stopped her, so the Lord will forgive her.

Numbers 30:8
But if the husband hears about the promise and refuses to let her keep her promise, the wife does not have to do what she promised. Her husband broke the promise—he did not let her do what she said. So the Lord will forgive her.

Joshua 9:20
This is what we must do. We must let them live. We cannot hurt them or God will be angry with us because we broke the promise we made to them.

John 8:32
You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."

Acts 7:2
Stephen answered, "My Jewish fathers and brothers, listen to me. Our great and glorious God appeared to Abraham, our ancestor, when he was in Mesopotamia. This was before he lived in Haran.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

They are wet with the showers of the mountains,.... They that are without any clothes to cover them, lying down at the bottom of a hill or mountain, where the clouds often gather, and there break, or the snow at the top of them melts through the heat of the day; and whether by the one or by the other, large streams of water run down the mountains, and the naked poor, or such who are thinly clothed, are all over wet therewith, as Nebuchadnezzar's body was with the dew of heaven, when he was driven from men, and lived among beasts, Daniel 4:33:

and embrace the rock for want of a shelter; or habitation, as the Targum; having no house to dwell in, nor any raiment to cover them, they were glad to get into the hole of a rock, in a cave or den there, and where some good men in former times were obliged to wander,

Hebrews 11:38; and whither mean persons, in the time and country in which Job lived, were driven to dwell in, see Job 30:6.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 24:8. 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. The rain fell in torrents, and produced torrents on the land, carrying away earth and stones and every thing before them, scooping out great gullies in the sides of the mountains. Mountain torrents are not produced but by such extraordinary outpourings of rain, formed either by water-spouts, or by vast masses of clouds intercepted and broken to pieces by the mountain tops.

And embrace the rock for want of a shelter. — In such cases as that related above, the firm rock is the only shelter which can be found, or safely trusted.