Job 24

¹ "Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty, and why do those who know him never see his days?

² Men remove landmarks; they seize flocks and pasture them.

³ They drive away the ass of the fatherless; they take the widow's ox for a pledge.

⁴ They thrust the poor off the road; the poor of the earth all hide themselves.

⁵ Behold, like wild asses in the desert they go forth to their toil, seeking prey in the wilderness as food for their children.

⁶ They gather their fodder in the field and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man.

⁷ They lie all night naked, without clothing, and have no covering in the cold.

⁸ They are wet with the rain of the mountains, and cling to the rock for want of shelter.

⁹ (There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast, and take in pledge the infant of the poor.)

¹⁰ They go about naked, without clothing; hungry, they carry the sheaves;

¹¹ among the olive rows of the wicked they make oil; they tread the wine presses, but suffer thirst.

¹² From out of the city the dying groan, and the soul of the wounded cries for help; yet God pays no attention to their prayer.

¹³ "There are those who rebel against the light, who are not acquainted with its ways, and do not stay in its paths.

¹⁴ The murderer rises in the dark, that he may kill the poor and needy; and in the night he is as a thief.

¹⁵ The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight, saying, 'No eye will see me'; and he disguises his face.

¹⁶ In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves up; they do not know the light.

¹⁷ For deep darkness is morning to all of them; for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

¹⁸ "You say, "They are swiftly carried away upon the face of the waters; their portion is cursed in the land; no treader turns toward their vineyards.

¹⁹ Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters; so does Sheol those who have sinned.

²⁰ The squares of the town forget them; their name is no longer remembered; so wickedness is broken like a tree.'

²¹ "They feed on the barren childless woman, and do no good to the widow.

²² Yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power; they rise up when they despair of life.

²³ He gives them security, and they are supported; and his eyes are upon their ways.

²⁴ They are exalted a little while, and then are gone; they wither and fade like the mallow; they are cut off like the heads of grain.

²⁵ If it is not so, who will prove me a liar, and show that there is nothing in what I say?"