Job 24
1 Ab Omnipotente non sunt abscondita tempora: qui autem noverunt eum, ignorant dies illius.
“Why are not times laid up by the Almighty? Why do not those who know him see his days?
2 Alii terminos transtulerunt, diripuerunt greges, et paverunt eos.
There are people who remove the landmarks. They violently take away flocks, and feed them.
3 Asinum pupillorum abegerunt, et abstulerunt pro pignore bovem viduae.
They drive away the donkey of the fatherless, and they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4 Subverterunt pauperum viam, et oppresserunt pariter mansuetos terrae.
They turn the needy out of the way. The poor of the earth all hide themselves.
5 Alii quasi onagri in deserto egrediuntur ad opus suum: vigilantes ad praedam, praeparant panem liberis.
Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert, they go out to their work, seeking diligently for food. The wilderness yields them bread for their children.
6 Agrum non suum demetunt: et vineam eius, quem vi oppresserint, vindemiant.
They cut their food in the field. They glean the vineyard of the wicked.
7 Nudos dimittunt homines, indumenta tollentes, quibus non est operimentum in frigore:
They lie all night naked without clothing, and have no covering in the cold.
8 Quos imbres montium rigant: et non habentes velamen, amplexantur lapides.
They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for lack of a shelter.
9 Vim fecerunt depraedantes pupillos, et vulgum pauperem spoliaverunt.
There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor,
10 Nudis et incedentibus absque vestitu, et esurientibus tulerunt spicas.
so that they go around naked without clothing. Being hungry, they carry the sheaves.
11 Inter acervos eorum meridiati sunt, qui calcatis torcularibus sitiunt.
They make oil within the walls of these men. They tread wine presses, and suffer thirst.
12 De civitatibus fecerunt viros gemere, et anima vulneratorum clamavit, et Deus inultum abire non patitur.
From out of the populous city, men groan. The soul of the wounded cries out, yet God does not regard the folly.
13 Ipsi fuerunt rebelles lumini, nescierunt vias eius, nec reversi sunt per semitas eius.
“These are of those who rebel against the light. They do not know its ways, nor stay in its paths.
14 Mane primo consurgit homicida, interficit egenum et pauperem: per noctem vero erit quasi fur.
The murderer rises with the light. He kills the poor and needy. In the night he is like a thief.
15 Oculus adulteri observat caliginem, dicens: Non me videbit oculus: et operiet vultum suum.
The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No eye will see me.’ He disguises his face.
16 Perfodit in tenebris domos, sicut in die condixerant sibi, et ignoraverunt lucem.
In the dark they dig through houses. They shut themselves up in the daytime. They do not know the light.
17 Si subito apparuerit aurora, arbitrantur umbram mortis: et sic in tenebris quasi in luce ambulant.
For the morning is to all of them like thick darkness, for they know the terrors of the thick darkness.
18 Levis est super faciem aquae: maledicta sit pars eius in terra, nec ambulet per viam vinearum.
“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.
Drought and heat consume the snow waters, so does Sheol (Sheol h7585) those who have sinned.
20 Obliviscatur eius misericordia: dulcedo illius vermes: non sit in recordatione, sed conteratur quasi lignum infructuosum.
The womb will forget him. The worm will feed sweetly on him. He will be no more remembered. Unrighteousness will be broken as a tree.
21 Pavit enim sterilem, et quae non parit, et viduae bene non fecit.
He devours the barren who do not bear. He shows no kindness to the widow.
22 Detraxit fortes in fortitudine sua: et cum steterit, non credet vitae suae.
Yet God preserves the mighty by his power. He rises up who has no assurance of life.
23 Dedit ei Deus locum poenitentiae, et ille abutitur eo in superbiam: oculi autem eius sunt in viis illius.
God gives them security, and they rest in it. His eyes are on their ways.
24 Elevati sunt ad modicum, et non subsistent, et humiliabuntur sicut omnia, et auferentur, et sicut summitates spicarum conterentur.
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.
25 Quod si non est ita, quis me potest arguere esse mentitum, et ponere ante Deum verba mea?
If it is not so now, who will prove me a liar, and make my speech worth nothing?”
