The Meaning of Job 24:17 Explained

Job 24:17

KJV: For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.

YLT: When together, morning is to them death shade, When he discerneth the terrors of death shade.

Darby: For the morning is to them all as the shadow of death; for they are familiar with the terrors of the shadow of death.

ASV: For the morning is to all of them as thick darkness; For they know the terrors of the thick darkness.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

For the morning  [is] to them even as  the shadow of death:  if [one] know  [them, they are in] the terrors  of the shadow of death. 

What does Job 24:17 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 24:1-25 - Not Here, But Hereafter
Job laments that the times of punishment are not so explained by God, that those who know Him may see and understand His reasons. He then turns to describe the life of the ungodly, who do dark deeds with apparent impunity. A very sad catalogue of crimes follows. The oppression of the needy, the driving away of the ass of the fatherless, the taking of the widow's ox for a pledge, the frequenting of the wilderness, the plunder of caravans regardless of the claims of pity, the stealing of oil and wine from those who had labored to produce them, the murdering of the poor laboring man at the dawn, the commission of crimes at night-such are the iniquities which are described. And these crimes are still committed in so-called Christian lands. Wonderful that God should bear with us, but His long-suffering would fain lead men to repent. It is only after long forbearing and trial that He cuts down.
In his closing words, Job 24:18-21, Job quotes the opinion of his friends as to the condition of the ungodly, that they pass away swiftly as the waters, and are snapped as a branch of a tree. And, in opposition, he states his own view, Job 24:23-25, that they die in exalted positions, not by a painful and lingering death, but as corn in the maturity of the ear. This also is true. Wicked men do not always meet their deserts in this world. In the next world penalty is inevitable. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 24

1  Wickedness often goes unpunished
17  There is a secret judgment for the wicked

What do the individual words in Job 24:17 mean?

For is the same the morning to them as the shadow of death if [someone] recognizes [them] [They are in] the terrors of the shadow of death
כִּ֤י יַחְדָּ֨ו ׀ בֹּ֣קֶר לָ֣מוֹ צַלְמָ֑וֶת כִּֽי־ יַ֝כִּ֗יר בַּלְה֥וֹת צַלְמָֽוֶת

יַחְדָּ֨ו ׀  is  the  same 
Parse: Adverb
Root: יַחַד 
Sense: union, unitedness adv.
בֹּ֣קֶר  the  morning 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: בֹּקֶר 
Sense: morning, break of day.
לָ֣מוֹ  to  them 
Parse: Preposition, third person masculine plural
צַלְמָ֑וֶת  as  the  shadow  of  death 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: צַלְמָוֶת  
Sense: death-shadow, deep shadow, deep darkness, shadow of death.
יַ֝כִּ֗יר  [someone]  recognizes  [them] 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: נָכַר 
Sense: to recognise, acknowledge, know, respect, discern, regard.
בַּלְה֥וֹת  [They  are  in]  the  terrors 
Parse: Noun, feminine plural construct
Root: בַּלָּהָה  
Sense: terror, destruction, calamity, dreadful event.
צַלְמָֽוֶת  of  the  shadow  of  death 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: צַלְמָוֶת  
Sense: death-shadow, deep shadow, deep darkness, shadow of death.