< Job 24 >
1 "Why aren't times made known by Shaddai? Why do not those who know him see his days?
なにゆえ、全能者はさばきの時を定めておかれないのか。なにゆえ、彼を知る者がその日を見ないのか。
2 There are people who remove the landmarks. They violently take away flocks, and feed them.
世には地境を移す者、群れを奪ってそれを飼う者、
3 They drive away the donkey of the fatherless, and they take the widow's ox for a pledge.
みなしごのろばを追いやる者、やもめの牛を質に取る者、
4 They turn the needy out of the way. The poor of the earth all hide themselves.
貧しい者を道から押しのける者がある。世の弱い者は皆彼らをさけて身をかくす。
5 Look, as wild donkeys in the desert, they go forth to their work, seeking diligently for food. The wilderness yields them bread for their children.
見よ、彼らは荒野におる野ろばのように出て働き、野で獲物を求めて、その子らの食物とする。
6 They cut their provender in the field. They glean the vineyard of the wicked.
彼らは畑でそのまぐさを刈り、また悪人のぶどう畑で拾い集める。
7 They lie all night naked without clothing, and have no covering in the cold.
彼らは着る物がなく、裸で夜を過ごし、寒さに身をおおうべき物もない。
8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for lack of a shelter.
彼らは山の雨にぬれ、しのぎ場もなく岩にすがる。
9 There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor,
(みなしごをその母のふところから奪い、貧しい者の幼な子を質にとる者がある。)
10 So that they go around naked without clothing. Being hungry, they carry the sheaves.
彼らは着る物がなく、裸で歩き、飢えつつ麦束を運び、
11 They make oil within the walls of these men. They tread wine presses, and suffer thirst.
悪人のオリブ並み木の中で油をしぼり、酒ぶねを踏んでも、かわきを覚える。
12 From out of the populous city, men groan. The soul of the wounded cries out, yet God doesn't regard the folly.
町の中から死のうめきが起り、傷ついた者の魂が助けを呼び求める。しかし神は彼らの祈を顧みられない。
13 "These are of those who rebel against the light. They do not know its ways, nor abide in its paths.
光にそむく者たちがある。彼らは光の道を知らず、光の道にとどまらない。
14 The murderer rises with the light. He kills the poor and needy. In the night he is like a thief.
人を殺す者は暗いうちに起き出て弱い者と貧しい者を殺し、夜は盗びととなる。
15 The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, 'No eye shall see me.' He disguises his face.
姦淫する者の目はたそがれを待って、『だれもわたしを見ていないだろう』と言い、顔におおう物を当てる。
16 In the dark they dig through houses. They shut themselves up in the daytime. They do not know the light.
彼らは暗やみで家をうがち、昼は閉じこもって光を知らない。
17 For the morning is to all of them like thick darkness, for they know the terrors of the thick darkness.
彼らには暗黒は朝である。彼らは暗黒の恐れを友とするからだ。
18 "They are foam on the surface of the waters. Their portion is cursed in the earth. They do not turn into the way of the vineyards.
あなたがたは言う、『彼らは水のおもてにすみやかに流れ去り、その受ける分は地でのろわれ、酒ぶねを踏む者はだれも彼らのぶどう畑の道に行かない。
19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters, so does Sheol those who have sinned. (Sheol )
ひでりと熱さは雪水を奪い去る、陰府が罪を犯した者に対するも、これと同様だ。 (Sheol )
20 The womb shall forget him. The worm shall feed sweetly on him. He shall be no more remembered. Unrighteousness shall be broken as a tree.
町の広場は彼らを忘れ、彼らの名は覚えられることなく、不義は木の折られるように折られる』と。
21 He devours the barren who do not bear. He shows no kindness to the widow.
彼らは子を産まぬうまずめをくらい、やもめをあわれむことをしない。
22 Yet he preserves the mighty by his power. He rises up who has no assurance of life.
しかし神はその力をもって、強い人々を生きながらえさせられる。彼らは生きる望みのない時にも起きあがる。
23 He gives them security, and they rest in it. His eyes are on their ways.
神が彼らに安全を与えられるので、彼らは安らかである。神の目は彼らの道の上にある。
24 They are exalted; yet a little while, and they are gone. Yes, they are brought low, they are taken out of the way as all others, and are cut off as the tops of the ears of grain.
彼らはしばし高められて、いなくなり、ぜにあおいのように枯れて消えうせ、麦の穂先のように切り取られる。
25 If it isn't so now, who will prove me a liar, and make my speech worth nothing?"
もし、そうでないなら、だれがわたしにその偽りを証明し、わが言葉のむなしいことを示しうるだろうか」。