Job 24:11

Job 24:11 [Which] make oil within their walls, [and] tread [their] winepresses, and suffer thirst.

Ver. 11. Which make oil within their walls, &c.] {See Trapp on "Job 24:6"} {See Trapp on "Job 24:10"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Job 24:11-12. Which make oil within their walls — The walls of the rich oppressors, for their use and benefit. And tread their wine-presses — That is, the grapes in their wine-presses; and suffer thirst — Because they are not permitted to quench their thirst out of the wine which they make. Men groan — Under the burden of injuries and grievous oppressions; from out of the city — Not only in deserts, or less inhabited places, where these tyrants have the greater opportunity to practise their villanies; but even in cities, where there is a face of order, and government, and courts of justice, and a multitude of people to observe and restrain such actions; whereby they plainly declare that they neither fear God nor reverence man. The soul of the wounded crieth out — The life or blood of those who are wounded to death (as the word חללים, chalalim, properly signifies) crieth aloud to God for vengeance; yet God layeth not folly to them — Does not appear to impute, or lay to their charge, this folly, or wickedness; does not punish them for it as it deserves.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

24:11 without being allowed to taste it: These words, which are not in the original text, are implied by the parallel with starving and suffer from thirst. • To force workers to tread in the winepress as they suffer from thirst violates the principle of letting workers enjoy some of the produce they are harvesting (see Deut 25:4; cp. 2 Tim 2:6).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

In such places which are appointed for that purpose: meaning, that those that labor for the wicked, are pined for hunger.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Which--"They," the poor, "press the oil within their wall"; namely, not only in the open fields (Job 24:10), but also in the wall-enclosed vineyards and olive gardens of the oppressor (Isa 5:5). Yet they are not allowed to quench their "thirst" with the grapes and olives. Here, thirsty; Job 24:10, hungry.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 11. Make oil within their walls] Thus stripped of all that on which they depended for clothing and food, they are obliged to become vassals to their lord, labour in the fields on scanty fare, or tread their wine-presses, from the produce of which they are not permitted to quench their thirst.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

11. A similar contrast between “tread the winepresses” and “suffer thirst.” The expression “within their walls” refers to the walled, well-protected vineyards of the rich nobility, within which these miserable serfs tread out abundant wine all the while that they themselves pant with thirst.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Which make oil within their walls,.... Not the poor within their own walls; as if the sense was, that they made their oil in a private manner within the walls of their houses, or in their cellars, lest it should be known and taken away from them; for such cannot be thought to have had oliveyards to make oil of; rather within the walls of their rich masters, where they were kept closely confined to their work, as if in a prison; or within the walls and fences of their oliveyards, where their olive presses stood; or best of all "within the rows (q) of their olive trees", as the word signifies, where having gathered the olives, they pressed out the oil in the presses and this they did at noon, in the heat of the day, as the word (r) for making oil is observed by some to signify, and yet had nothing given them to quench their thirst, as follows:

and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst; after having gathered their grapes from their vines for them, they trod them in the winepresses, and made their wine, and yet would not allow them to drink of it to allay their thirst.

(q) "inter ordines", Mercerus, Piscator, Cocceius; so Sephorno, and some in Eliae Tishbi, p. 241. (r) "meridiati sunt", V. L. so Bolducius, Schultens.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Which made oil within their walls - Or rather, they compel them to express oil within their walls. The word יצהירו yatshı̂yrû, rendered “made oil,” is from צחר tsachar, to shine, to give light; and hence, the derivatives of the word are used to denote light, and then oil, and thence the word comes to denote to press out oil for the purpose of light. Oil was obtained for this purpose from olives by pressing them, and the idea here is, that the poor were compelled to engage in this service for others without compensation. The expression “within their walls,” means probably within the walls of the rich; that is, within the enclosures where such presses were erected. They were taken away from their homes; compelled to toil for others; and confined for this purpose within enclosures erected for the purpose of expressing oil. Some have proposed to read this passage, “Between their walls they make them toil at noonday;” as if it referred to the cruelty of causing them to labor in the sweltering heat of the sun. But the former interpretation is the most common, and best agrees with the usual meaning of the word, and with the connection.

And tread their wine-presses and suffer thirst - They compel them to tread out their grapes without allowing them to slake their thirst from the wine. Such a treatment would, of course, be cruel oppression. A similar description is given by Addison in his letter from Italy:

Il povreo Abitante mira indarno

Il roseggiante Arancio e’l pingue grano,

Crescer dolente ei mira ed oli, e vini,

E de mirti odorar l’ ombra ei sdegna.

In mezzo alla Bonta della Natura

Maledetto languisce, e deatro a cariche

Di vino vigne muore per la sete.

“The poor inhabitant beholds in vain

The reddening orange and the swelling grain;

Joyless he sees the growing oils and wines

And in the myrtle’s fragrant shade repines;

Starves, in the midst of nature’s bounty curst,

And in the loaden vineyard dies for thirst.”

Addison’s works, vol. i. pp. 51-53. Ed. Lond. 1721.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Of them. Hebrew, "of corn, and thirst while pressing out their olives." (Calmet) --- Protestants, "they take away the sheaf from the hungry, (11) which make oil within their walls, and tread their wine-presses, and suffer thirst," (Haydock) not being allowed to taste any thing, though the law of Moses would not suffer even the ox to be muzzled, Deuteronomy xxv. 4. The rich look on without pity, taking their rest at noon, amid the heaps which really belong to the poor, whom they force to labour for them.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

To wit, the poor man last mentioned.

Within their walls; either,

1. Within their own walls, i.e. in private and secret places, for fear of the oppressors. Or rather,

2. Within the walls of the rich oppressors, for their use and benefit; for the poor, alas! had no walls, nor houses, nor oliveyards, nor vineyards left to them, but they were violently spoiled of and driven away from all those things, as was said in the foregoing verses.

Their wine-presses, i.e. the grapes in their wine-presses, by a metonymy of the thing containing for the thing contained.

Suffer thirst; because they are not permitted to quench their thirst out of the wine which they make, though their labor’s both need and deserve refreshment.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

11. Within their walls — Compare Pro_24:31.

Tread… presses — See note, Job_1:13. Wilkinson (Domestic Life, etc., 24:63-65) says of the ancient Egyptians: “Their winepress was frequently in or near the vineyard; the grapes were trodden by the feet, but they were subjected to another process of twisting in a bag,” etc.

And suffer thirst — Mr Addison, in one of his letters from Italy, presents a similar picture of its “poor inhabitant,” who: —

Starves, in the midst of nature’s bounty curst,

And in the loaden vineyard dies for thirst.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst. In the third place, the same unfortunates are employed in the homesteads of their oppressors to express oil from the olives and wine from the rich clusters of grapes, while they themselves are tormented with unceasing thirst.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Walls - Within the walls of the oppressors for their use. Suffer - Because they are not permitted to quench their thirst out of the wine which they make.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Connecting Statement:

Job continues speaking.

The poor people make oil

they squeezed olives in order to extract olive oil from them

within the walls of those wicked men

Here "walls" refers to the whole house. AT: "in the houses of those evil men" (See: Synecdoche)

they tread the wicked men's winepresses

It may be helpful to state that they do this to produce juice to make wine. AT: "they tread on grapes to make juice for wine" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

they themselves suffer thirst

"they suffer from thirst" or "they are thirsty"

translationWords

oil

evil

winepress

suffer

groan

cry

God

pray

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Between their rows they make oil The owners of the olive trees make oil.

they tread the winepresses The owners of the vineyards.

but they are thirsty after a while, because these wicked men rob them of them [the wine].

Between their rows It seems to me that they pile up the olives in rows in the oil press and the oil flows between them.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.