JOB 24 [†] “Why are l not times of judgment m kept by the Almighty,
and why do those who know him never see his n days?
they seize flocks and pasture them.
3 They drive away the donkey of the fatherless;
they p take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4 They q thrust the poor off the road;
the poor of the earth r all hide themselves.
5 Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert
the poor [1] s go out to their toil, t seeking game;
the wasteland yields food for their children.
6 They gather their [2] fodder in the field,
and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man.
7 They u lie all night naked, without clothing,
and have no covering in the cold.
8 They are wet with the rain of the mountains
and v cling to the rock for lack of shelter.
9[†] (There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast,
and they take a pledge against the poor.)
10 They go about naked, without clothing;
hungry, they w carry the sheaves;
11 among the olive rows of the wicked [3] they make oil;
they tread the winepresses, but suffer thirst.
12[^] From out of the city the dying groan,
and the soul of x the wounded cries for help;
yet God charges no one with y wrong.
13[†] “There are those who rebel z against the light,
who are not acquainted with its ways,
and do not stay in its paths.
14 The murderer rises before it is light,
that he a may kill the poor and needy,
and in the night he is like a thief.
15 The eye of the adulterer also waits for b the twilight,
saying, ‘No c eye will see me’;
and he veils his face.
16 In the dark they d dig through houses;
by day they shut themselves up;
they do not know the light.
17 For e deep darkness is morning to all of them;
for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.
18[†] “You say, f ‘Swift are they on 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 g Sheol those who have sinned.
20 The womb forgets them;
the worm finds them sweet;
they are h no longer remembered,
so wickedness is broken like i a tree.’
21[†] “They wrong the barren, childless woman,
and do no good to the widow.
22 Yet God [4] 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 j eyes are upon their ways.
24 They are exalted k a little while, and then l are gone;
they are brought low and gathered up like all others;
they are m cut off like the heads of grain.
25 If it is n not so, who will prove me a liar
and show that there is nothing in what I say?”