Job 24
1 Wherefore, since from the Almighty times are not hid, have, his knowing ones, no vision of his days?
But why have the seasons been hidden from the Lord,
2 Boundaries, men move back, flocks, they seize and consume;
while the ungodly have passed over the bound, carrying off the flock with the shepherd?
3 The ass of the fatherless, they drive off, they take in pledge the ox of the widow;
They have led away, the ass of the fatherless, and taken the widow's ox for a pledge.
4 They turn aside the needy out of the way, at once, are the humbled of the land made to hide themselves.
They have turned aside the weak from the right way: and the meek of the earth have hidden themselves together.
5 Lo! [as] wild asses in the wilderness, they go forth with their work, eager seekers for prey, the waste plain, yieldeth them food for their young;
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 In the field—a man’s fodder, they cut down, and, the vineyard of the lawless, they strip of its late berries;
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 Ill-clad, they are left to lodge without clothing, and 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 With the sweeping rain of the mountains, are they wet, and, through having no shelter, they embrace a rock.
They are wet with the drops of the mountains: they have embraced the rock, because they had no shelter.
9 Men tear, from the breast, the fatherless, and, over the poor, they take a pledge;
They have snatched the fatherless from the breast, and have afflicted the outcast.
10 Naked, they go about without clothing, and, famished, they carry the sheaves;
And they have wrongfully caused [others] to sleep without clothing, and taken away the morsel of the hungry.
11 Between their walls, are they exposed to the sun, Wine-presses, they tread, and yet are thirsty;
They have unrighteously laid wait in narrow places, and have not known the righteous way.
12 Out of the city—out of the houses, they make outcry. and, the soul of the wounded, calleth for help, and, GOD, doth not regard it as foolish.
Who have cast forth [the] poor from the city and their own houses, and the soul of the children has groaned aloud.
13 They, have become rebels against the light, —they are not acquainted with the ways thereof, neither abide they 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 With the light, riseth the murderer, He slayeth the poor and needy, And, in the night, he becometh like a thief.
But having known their works, he delivered them into darkness: and in the night one will be as a thief:
15 And, the eye of the adulterer, watcheth for the evening twilight, saying, Not an eye will see me! A covering for the face, he putteth on;
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 He breaketh, in the dark, into houses, —By day, they lock themselves in, They know not the light;
In darkness he digs through houses: by day they conceal themselves securely: they know not the light.
17 For, in the case of all such, morning to them is the death-shade, For, to be recognised, is a death-shade terror.
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 Swift is he on the face of the waters, Speedily vanished their share in the land, He turneth not to 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.
[Let them be] withered upon the earth; for they have plundered the sheaves of the fatherless. (Sheol h7585)
20 Maternal love shall forget him, the worm shall find him sweet, No more shall he be remembered, but perversity shall be shivered like 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 oppresseth the barren who beareth not, and, to the widow, he doeth not good;
For he has not treated the barren woman well, and has had no pity on a feeble woman.
22 Yea he draggeth along the mighty by his strength, He riseth up, and none hath assurance 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 It is given him to be secure, and confident, yet, his eyes, are upon their ways.
When he has fallen sick, let him not hope to recover: but let him perish by disease.
24 They are exalted a little, and are not, Yea having been laid low, like all men, are they gathered, Even as the top of an ear of corn, do they hang down.
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 But, if not, who then can convict me of falsehood? or make of no account my words?
But if not, who is he that says I speak falsely, and will make my words of no account?
