Bible Strands
Job 24:16
In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves in, never to experience the light.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Job describes the tactics of the wicked to his friends, cataloging how evildoers operate outside divine justice. He speaks while observing God’s delayed judgment and detailing the ruthless methods of those who hide their crimes.
The words — The verse turns on חָתַר (cha.Tar), meaning he digs into, and חִתְמוּ (chi.te.mu), meaning they seal up. These verbs establish the thief’s rhythm of nocturnal breach and daytime isolation.
The thread — The motif of hiding from exposure runs through Exodus 22:2 on a caught thief, John 3:20 on evildoers fleeing the Light, and Ephesians 5:11 on exposing the fruitless deeds of darkness. Job 24:15–17 immediately frames this behavior as a pattern shared by adulterers and those who court the terrors of darkness.
Why it lands — The text states that wickedness depends on deliberate concealment and avoidance of daylight. It requires the reader to identify the mechanics of evasion and refuse partnership with darkness.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.
Cross-references
- John 3:20 Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
- Ephesians 5:11 Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
- Exodus 22:2 If a thief is caught breaking in and is beaten to death, no one shall be guilty of bloodshed.
- Job 24:13 Then there are those who rebel against the light, not knowing its ways or staying on its paths.
- Job 38:12 In your days, have you commanded the morning or assigned the dawn its place,
- Ezekiel 12:5 As they watch, dig through the wall and carry your belongings out through it.
- Ezekiel 12:12 And at dusk the prince among them will lift his bags to his shoulder and go out. They will dig through the wall to bring him out. He will cover his face so he cannot see the land.
- Matthew 6:19 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
- Matthew 24:43 But understand this: If the homeowner had known in which watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.