Job 24
1 Why are times for judging wicked people not set by the Almighty? Why do not those who are faithful to God see his days of judgment come?
But why have the seasons been hidden from the Lord,
2 There are wicked people who remove boundary markers; there are wicked people who take away flocks by force and put them in their own pastures.
while the ungodly have passed over the bound, carrying off the flock with the shepherd?
3 They drive away the donkey of those without fathers; they take the widow's ox as security.
They have led away, the ass of the fatherless, and taken the widow's ox for a pledge.
4 They force needy people out of their path; poor people of the earth all hide themselves from them.
They have turned aside the weak from the right way: and the meek of the earth have hidden themselves together.
5 See, these poor people go out to their work like wild donkeys in the wilderness, looking carefully for food; perhaps the Arabah will provide them food 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 Poor people reap in the night in other people's fields; they glean grapes from the harvest of those wicked people.
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 lie naked all night without clothing; 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; they lie next to large rocks because they have no shelter.
They are wet with the drops of the mountains: they have embraced the rock, because they had no shelter.
9 There are wicked people who pluck orphans from their mothers' breast, and wicked people who take children as security from poor people.
They have snatched the fatherless from the breast, and have afflicted the outcast.
10 But the poor people go about naked without clothing; although they go hungry, they carry bundles of grain belonging to other people.
And they have wrongfully caused [others] to sleep without clothing, and taken away the morsel of the hungry.
11 The poor people make oil within the walls of those wicked men; they tread the wicked men's winepresses, but they themselves suffer thirst.
They have unrighteously laid wait in narrow places, and have not known the righteous way.
12 From out of the city the dying groan, and the throat of the wounded cries out for help. But God does not ascribe blame
Who have cast forth [the] poor from the city and their own houses, and the soul of the children has groaned aloud.
13 Some of these wicked people rebel against the light; they know not its ways, nor do they stay in its paths.
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 Before daylight the murderer rises and he kills poor and needy people; in the night he is like a thief.
But having known their works, he delivered them into darkness: and in the night one will be as a thief:
15 Also, the eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight; he says, 'No eye will see me.' He 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 darkness wicked people dig into houses; but they shut themselves up in the daytime; they do not care for the light.
In darkness he digs through houses: by day they conceal themselves securely: they know not the light.
17 For all of them, thick darkness is like the morning; for they are friends with the terrors of thick darkness.
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 Swiftly they pass away, however, like foam on the surface of the waters; their portion of the land is cursed; no one goes to work in their 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 As drought and heat melt away the snow into waters, so Sheol takes away those who 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 that bore him will forget him; the worm will feed sweetly on him; he will be remembered no more; in this way, wickedness will be broken 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 The wicked one devours the barren women who have not borne children; he does no good to the widow.
For he has not treated the barren woman well, and has had no pity on a feeble woman.
22 Yet God drags away the mighty people by his power; he rises up and does not strengthen them in 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 God allows them to think they are secure, and they are happy about that, but his eyes are on their ways.
When he has fallen sick, let him not hope to recover: but let him perish by disease.
24 These people are exalted; still, in only a little while, they will be gone; indeed, they will be brought low; they will be gathered up like all the others; they will be cut off like the tops of ears of grain.
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 If it is not so, who can prove me to be a liar; who can make my speech worth nothing?”
But if not, who is he that says I speak falsely, and will make my words of no account?
