Job 24:18

Second strophe Wealthy and respectable evildoers, (18-21,) widely differing from the miscreants he has just described, (13-17,) sink into sheol like a bubble on the stream, or snow waters in the desert sands, and escape long-protracted suffering and slow-footed justice, Job 24:18-21.

18. He is swift as the waters Better, Light is he on the face of the waters. A figure similar to that of the text appears in Hosea 10:7, “He is like foam (a twig, Sept.) on the face of the water.” Borne onward by the current, he is swift to disappear; while justice, with limping foot, ( pede poena claudo. HORACE, Carm., Job 3:2,) is too slow-paced to overtake him. Men may curse his “portion” when he is gone, but what cares he in the grave for public opinion? An exquisite stroke is that of the poet, He beholdeth not the way of the vineyards: scene of delights to him of many a cool and shady walk though of stern oppression for the poor, (Job 24:6-11.) The picture may remind the reader of a similar, but no more touching, one in “The Elegy,” that of the warm precincts of a cheerful day, on which the soul, departing, casts “one longing, lingering look behind.” The view of Carey and Hengstenberg, that Job speaks of pirates in this verse, is untenable.