Job 24
1 Why are not times treasured up with the Almighty? why do not they that know him see his days?
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 They remove the landmarks; they violently take away the flocks and pasture them;
The wicked move boundary stones; they seize other people's flocks and move them to their own pastures.
3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take 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 turn the needy out of the way: the afflicted of the land all hide themselves.
They push the poor out of their way; the destitute are forced to hide from them.
5 Lo, [as] wild asses in the desert, they go forth to their work, seeking early for the prey: the wilderness [yieldeth] them food for [their] children.
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 reap in the field the fodder thereof, and they gather the vintage of the wicked;
They are forced to find what they can in other people's fields, to glean among the vineyards of the wicked.
7 They pass the night naked without clothing, and have no covering in the cold;
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 showers of the mountains, and for want of a shelter embrace the rock...
They are soaked by the cold mountain storms, and huddle beside the rocks for shelter.
9 They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor:
Fatherless children are snatched from their mother's breasts, taking the babies of the poor as security for a debt.
10 These go naked without clothing, and, hungry, they bear the sheaf;
Because they have no clothes to wear they have to go naked, harvesting sheaves of grain while they themselves are hungry.
11 They press out oil within their walls, they tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.
In the olive groves they work to produce oil, but do not taste it; they tread the winepress, but are thirsty.
12 Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out; and God imputeth not the impiety.
In the city the dying groan, and the wounded cry for help, but God ignores their prayers.
13 There are those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.
These are people who rebel against the light. They do not want to know its ways, or to stay on its paths.
14 The murderer riseth with the light, killeth the afflicted and needy, and in the night is 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 waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me; and he putteth 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 the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves in; 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 they are familiar with the terrors 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 waters; their portion is cursed on the earth: he turneth not unto the way of the vineyards.
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.
Just as heat and drought dry up snowmelt, so Sheol takes away those who have sinned. (Sheol h7585)
20 The womb forgetteth him; the worm feedeth sweetly on him: he shall be no more remembered; and unrighteousness is broken as a tree, —
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 He that despoileth the barren that beareth not, and doeth not good to the widow:
They mistreat childless women and are mean to widows.
22 He draweth also the mighty with his power; he riseth up, and no [man] is sure of life.
God prolongs the life of the wicked by his power; but when they arise, they have no assurance of life.
23 [God] setteth him in safety, and he resteth thereon; but his eyes are upon their ways.
He supports them and gives them security, but he is always watching what they're doing.
24 They are exalted for a little, and are no more; they are laid low; like all [other] are they gathered, and are cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.
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 If it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?
If this isn't so, who can prove I'm a liar and there's nothing to what I say?”
