Job 24
1 Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?
But why have the seasons been hidden from the Lord,
2 Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.
while the ungodly have passed over the bound, carrying off the flock with the shepherd?
3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
They have led away, the ass of the fatherless, and taken the widow's ox for a pledge.
4 They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.
They have turned aside the weak from the right way: and the meek of the earth have hidden themselves together.
5 Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yields food for them and for their children.
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.
6 They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.
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.
7 They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.
They have caused many naked to sleep without clothes, and they have taken away the covering of their body.
8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
They are wet with the drops of the mountains: they have embraced the rock, because they had no shelter.
9 They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.
They have snatched the fatherless from the breast, and have afflicted the outcast.
10 They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;
And they have wrongfully caused [others] to sleep without clothing, and taken away the morsel of the hungry.
11 Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.
They have unrighteously laid wait in narrow places, and have not known the righteous way.
12 Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded cries out: yet God lays not folly to them.
Who have cast forth [the] poor from the city and their own houses, and the soul of the children has groaned aloud.
13 They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.
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?
14 The murderer rising with the light kills the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.
But having known their works, he delivered them into darkness: and in the night one will be as a thief:
15 The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguises his face.
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.
16 In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.
In darkness he digs through houses: by day they conceal themselves securely: they know not the light.
17 For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.
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.
18 He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholds not the way of the vineyards.
He is swift on the face of the water: let his portion be cursed on the earth; and let their plants be laid bare.
19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so does the grave those which have sinned. (Sheol h7585)
[Let them be] withered upon the earth; for they have plundered the sheaves of the fatherless. (Sheol h7585)
20 The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.
Then is his sin brought to remembrance, and he vanishes like a vapor of dew: but let what he has done be recompensed to him, and let every unrighteous one be crushed like rotten wood.
21 He evil entreats the barren that bears not: and does not good to the widow.
For he has not treated the barren woman well, and has had no pity on a feeble woman.
22 He draws also the mighty with his power: he rises up, and no man is sure of life.
And in wrath he has overthrown the helpless: therefore when he has arisen, [a man] will not feel secure of his own life.
23 Though it be given him to be in safety, where on he rests; yet his eyes are on their ways.
When he has fallen sick, let him not hope to recover: but let him perish by disease.
24 They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.
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.
25 And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?
But if not, who is he that says I speak falsely, and will make my words of no account?
