Job 24:16

In the dark the robber ¹  breaks into houses, ²  but by day they shut themselves in; ³  they do not know the light. ⁴ 

In the dark, men break into houses, but by day they shut themselves in; they want nothing to do with the light.

"In the dark they dig into houses, They shut themselves up by day; They do not know the light.

They break into houses at night and sleep in the daytime. They are not acquainted with the light.

Burglars do their work at night, but keep well out of sight through the day. They want nothing to do with light.

In the dark he makes holes in the walls of houses: in the daytime they are shutting themselves up, they have no knowledge of the light.

In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves up; they do not know the light.

In the dark they break into houses Which they marked for themselves in the daytime; They do not know the light.

In the dark the robber ¹  breaks into houses, ²  but by day they shut themselves in; ³  they do not know the light. ⁴ 

¹ tn The phrase “the robber” has been supplied in the English translation for clarification.

² tc This is not the idea of the adulterer, but of the thief. So some commentators reverse the order and put this verse after v. 14.

³ tc The verb חִתְּמוּ (khittÿmu) is the Piel from the verb חָתַם (khatam, “to seal”). The verb is now in the plural, covering all the groups mentioned that work under the cover of darkness. The suggestion that they “seal,” i.e., “mark” the house they will rob, goes against the meaning of the word “seal.”

⁴ tc Some commentators join this very short colon to the beginning of v. 17: “they do not know the light. For together…” becomes “for together they have not known the light.”