Job 24

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 Why does Shaddai not make known the times he has fixed; why do his faithful never see his Days?	1 The times are not hidden from the Almighty; even those who know him, do not know his days.
2 The wicked move boundary-marks away, they carry off flock and shepherd.	2 Some have crossed the boundaries, plundered the flocks, and given them pasture.
3 They drive away the orphan's donkey, as security, they seize the widow's ox.	3 They have driven away the donkey of orphans, and have taken the cow from the widow as collateral.
4 The needy have to keep out of the way, poor country people have to keep out of sight.	4 They have undermined the way of the poor, and have pressed together the meek of the earth.
5 Like wild desert donkeys, they go out to work, searching from dawn for food, and at evening forsomething on which to feed their children.	5 Others, like wild asses in the desert, go forth to their work; by watching for prey, they obtain bread for their children.
6 They go harvesting in the field of some scoundrel, they go pilfering in the vineyards of the wicked.	6 They reap a field that is not their own, and they harvest a vineyard that they have taken by force.
7 They spend the night naked, lacking clothes, with no covering against the cold.	7 They send men away naked, having taken the clothing of those who have no covering in the cold;
8 Mountain rainstorms cut them through, unsheltered, they hug the rocks.	8 these are wet with the mountain rain, and, having no covering, they embrace the rocks.
9 The orphan child is torn from the breast, the child of the poor is exacted as security.	9 They have used violence to deprive orphans, and they have robbed the poor common people.
10 They go about naked, lacking clothes, and starving while they carry the sheaves.	10 From the naked and those who do not have enough clothing, and from the hungry, they have taken away sheaves of grain.
11 Two little wal s, their shelter at high noon; parched with thirst, they have to tread the winepress.	11 They take their midday rest among the stockpiles of those who, though they have trodden the winepresses, suffer thirst.
12 From the towns come the groans of the dying and the gasp of the wounded crying for help. Yet Godremains deaf to prayer!	12 In the cities, they caused the men to groan and the spirit of the wounded to cry out, and so God does not allow this to go unpunished.
13 In contrast, there are those who reject the light: who know nothing of its ways and who do notfrequent its paths.	13 They have been rebellious against the light; they have not known his ways, nor have they returned by his paths.
14 When all is dark the murderer leaves his bed to kil the poor and needy. During the night the thiefgoes on the prowl,	14 The killer of men rises at first light; he executes the destitute and the poor, but, in truth, he is like a thief in the night.
15 The eye of the adulterer watches for twilight, 'No one wil see me,' he mutters as he masks his face.Inthe daytime they keep out of sight, these people who do not want to know the light.	15 The eye of the adulterer waits for darkness, saying, “No eye will see me,” and he covers his face.
16 breaking into houses while the darkness lasts.	16 He passes through houses in the nighttime, just as they had agreed among themselves in the daytime; and they are ignorant of the light.
17 For al of them, morning is a time of shadow dark as death, since that is when they know what fear is.	17 If sunrise should suddenly appear, it is treated by them like the shadow of death; and they walk in darkness, as if in light.
18	18 He is nimble on the surface of water. His place on land is to be accursed. May he not walk by way of the vineyards.
19	19 May he cross from the snowy waters to excessive heat, and his sin, all the way to hell.
20	20 Let mercy forget him. His charm is worms. Let him not be remembered, but instead be broken like an unfruitful tree.
21	21 For he has fed on the barren, who does not bear fruit, and he has not done good to the widow.
22	22 He has pulled down the strong by his strength, and, when he stands up, he will not have trust in his life.
23	23 God has given him a place for repentance, and he abuses it with arrogance, but his eyes are upon his ways.
24	24 They are lifted up for a little while, but they will not continue, and they will be brought low, just like all things, and they will be taken away, and, like the tops of the ears of grain, they will be crushed.
25 Is this not so? Who can prove me a liar or show that my words have no substance?	25 But, if this is not so, who is able to prove to me that I have lied and to place my words before God?