Job 24
1 But why have the seasons been hidden from the Lord,
Why doesn't the Almighty set a definite time to punish the wicked? Why don't those who follow him never see him act in judgment?
2 while the ungodly have passed over the bound, carrying off the flock with the shepherd?
The wicked move boundary stones; they seize other people's flocks and move them to their own pastures.
3 They have led away, the ass of the fatherless, and taken the widow's ox for a pledge.
They steal the orphan's donkey; they take the widow's ox as security for a debt.
4 They have turned aside the weak from the right way: and the meek of the earth have hidden themselves together.
They push the poor out of their way; the destitute are forced to hide from them.
5 And they have departed like asses in the field, having gone forth on my account according to their own order: his bread is sweet to [his] little ones.
Like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor have to scavenge for their food, looking for anything to feed their children in the wasteland.
6 They have reaped a field that was not their own before the time: the poor have laboured in the vineyards of the ungodly without pay and without food.
They are forced to find what they can in other people's fields, to glean among the vineyards of the wicked.
7 They have caused many naked to sleep without clothes, and they have taken away the covering of their body.
They spend the night naked because they have no clothes; they have nothing to cover themselves against the cold.
8 They are wet with the drops of the mountains: they have embraced the rock, because they had no shelter.
They are soaked by the cold mountain storms, and huddle beside the rocks for shelter.
9 They have snatched the fatherless from the breast, and have afflicted the outcast.
Fatherless children are snatched from their mother's breasts, taking the babies of the poor as security for a debt.
10 And they have wrongfully caused [others] to sleep without clothing, and taken away the morsel of the hungry.
Because they have no clothes to wear they have to go naked, harvesting sheaves of grain while they themselves are hungry.
11 They have unrighteously laid wait in narrow places, and have not known the righteous way.
In the olive groves they work to produce oil, but do not taste it; they tread the winepress, but are thirsty.
12 Who have cast forth [the] poor from the city and their own houses, and the soul of the children has groaned aloud.
In the city the dying groan, and the wounded cry for help, but God ignores their prayers.
13 Why then has he not visited these? forasmuch as they were upon the earth, and took no notice, and they knew not the way of righteousness, neither have they walked in their [appointed] paths?
These are people who rebel against the light. They do not want to know its ways, or to stay on its paths.
14 But having known their works, he delivered them into darkness: and in the night one will be as a thief:
The murderer gets up at dawn to kill the poor and needy, and when night falls he becomes a thief.
15 and the eye of the adulterer has watched [for] the darkness, saying, Eye shall not perceive me, and he puts a covering on his face.
The adulterer waits for dusk, saying to himself, ‘No one will see me now,’ and he covers his face.
16 In darkness he digs through houses: by day they conceal themselves securely: they know not the light.
Thieves break into houses during the night and they sleep during the day. They don't even know what the light is like!
17 For the morning is to them all [as] the shadow of death, for [each] will be conscious of the terror of the shadow of death.
Total darkness is like light to them, for they are familiar with the night.
18 He is swift on the face of the water: let his portion be cursed on the earth; and let their plants be laid bare.
Like bubbles on the surface of a river they are quickly carried away. The land they own is cursed by God. They don't enter their own vineyards.
19 [Let them be] withered upon the earth; for they have plundered the sheaves of the fatherless. (Sheol h7585)
Just as heat and drought dry up snowmelt, so Sheol takes away those who have sinned. (Sheol h7585)
20 Then is his sin brought to remembrance, and he vanishes like a vapour of dew: but let what he has done be recompensed to him, and let every unrighteous one be crushed like rotten wood.
Even their mothers forget them, maggots feast on them, they are no longer remembered, and their wickedness becomes like a tree that is broken into pieces.
21 For he has not treated the barren woman well, and has had no pity on a feeble woman.
They mistreat childless women and are mean to widows.
22 And in wrath he has overthrown the helpless: therefore when he has arisen, [a man] will not feel secure of his own life.
God prolongs the life of the wicked by his power; but when they arise, they have no assurance of life.
23 When he has fallen sick, let him not hope to recover: but let him perish by disease.
He supports them and gives them security, but he is always watching what they're doing.
24 For his exaltation has hurt many; but he has withered as mallows in the heat, or as an ear of corn falling off of itself from the stalk.
Though they may be illustrious for a while, soon they are gone. They are brought down like all others, cut off like the heads of grain.
25 But if not, who is he that says I speak falsely, and will make my words of no account?
If this isn't so, who can prove I'm a liar and there's nothing to what I say?”
