Job, 24

¹ “Why does the Almighty not set a time? Why do those who know him not see his day?^*1

² People move boundary markers; They carry off flocks for their own pasture.

³ They drive away the donkey of fatherless children And seize the widow’s bull as security for a loan.^*1

⁴ They force the poor off the road; The helpless of the earth must hide from them.

⁵ The poor forage for food like wild donkeys in the wilderness; They seek food in the desert for their children.

⁶ They must harvest in another’s field^*1 And glean from the vineyard of the wicked.

⁷ They spend the night naked, without clothing; They have no covering for the cold.

⁸ They are drenched by the mountain rains; They cling to the rocks for lack of shelter.

⁹ The fatherless child is snatched away from the breast; And the garments of the poor are taken as security for a loan,

¹⁰ Forcing them to go about naked, without clothing, And hungry, as they carry the sheaves of grain.

¹¹ They toil among the terrace walls in the heat of the day;^*1 They tread the winepresses, yet they go thirsty.

¹² The dying keep groaning in the city; The fatally wounded^*1 cry for help, But God does not regard this as improper.^*2

¹³ There are those who rebel against light; They do not recognize its ways, And they do not follow its paths.

¹⁴ The murderer rises at daybreak; He slays the helpless and the poor, While at night he engages in theft.

¹⁵ The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight, Saying, ‘No one will see me!’ And he covers his face.

¹⁶ In the darkness they break into^*1 houses; By day they shut themselves in. They are strangers to the light.

¹⁷ For morning is the same as deep darkness for them; They are familiar with the terrors of deep darkness.

¹⁸ But they are swiftly carried away by the waters.^*1 Their portion of the land will be cursed. They will not return to their vineyards.

¹⁹ Just as drought and heat take away the melted snow, The Grave^*1 takes away those who have sinned!

²⁰ His mother^*1 will forget him; the maggot will feast on him. He will be remembered no more. And unrighteousness will be broken just like a tree.

²¹ He preys on the barren woman, And mistreats the widow.

²² God^*1 will use his strength to do away with the powerful; Though they may rise up, they have no assurance of life.

²³ God^*1 lets them become confident and secure, But his eyes are on everything they do.^*2

²⁴ They are exalted for a little while, then they are no more. They are brought low and gathered like everyone else; They are cut off like heads of grain.

²⁵ Now who can prove me a liar Or refute my word?”