They cut their food in the field. They glean the vineyard of the wicked.
Parallel translations
- KJV They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.
- BSB They gather fodder in the fields and glean the vineyards of the wicked.
- NKJV They gather their fodder in the field And glean in the vineyard of the wicked.
- NASB “They harvest their feed in the field And glean the vineyard of the wicked.
- NLT They harvest a field they do not own, and they glean in the vineyards of the wicked.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The poor must gather food in others' fields and glean the wicked man's vineyard. It matters because they survive on scraps from those who oppress them.
Overview
Job continues describing the destitute, who harvest in fields not their own and glean leftover grapes from the very wicked who exploit them. Their dependence on the oppressor deepens the injustice. The image underscores a world out of order, longing for the restoration God promises to the humble.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Mic 6:15You will sow, but won’t reap. You will tread the olives, but won’t anoint yourself with oil; and crush grapes, but won’t drink the wine.
- Deut 28:33A nation which you don’t know eat the fruit of your ground and all of your work. You will only be oppressed and crushed always;
- Deut 28:51and they will eat the fruit of your livestock, and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed. They also won’t leave you grain, new wine, or oil, the increase of your livestock, or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish.
- Judg 6:3–6So it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the children of the east came up against them.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 24:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.