Job 24

1 “Why does the Almighty not reserve times for judgment? Why may those who know Him never see His days?

1 Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?

2 Men move boundary stones; they pasture stolen flocks.

2 Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.

3 They drive away the donkey of the fatherless and take the widow’s ox in pledge.

3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.

4 They push the needy off the road and force all the poor of the land into hiding.

4 They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.

5 Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go to work foraging for food; the wasteland is food for their children.

5 Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children.

6 They gather fodder in the fields and glean the vineyards of the wicked.

6 They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.

7 Without clothing, they spend the night naked; they have no covering against the cold.

7 They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.

8 Drenched by mountain rains, they huddle against the rocks for want of shelter.

8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.

9 The fatherless infant is snatched from the breast; the nursing child of the poor is seized for a debt.

9 They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.

10 Without clothing, they wander about naked. They carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.

10 They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;

11 They crush olives within their walls; they tread the winepresses, but go thirsty.

11 Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.

12 From the city, men groan, and the souls of the wounded cry out, yet God charges no one with wrongdoing.

12 Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.

13 Then there are those who rebel against the light, not knowing its ways or staying on its paths.

13 They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.

14 When daylight is gone, the murderer rises to kill the poor and needy; in the night he is like a thief.

14 The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.

15 The eye of the adulterer watches for twilight. Thinking, ‘No eye will see me,’ he covers his face.

15 The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face.

16 In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves in, never to experience the light.

16 In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.

17 For to them, deep darkness is their morning; surely they are friends with the terrors of darkness!

17 For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.

18 They are but foam on the surface of the water; their portion of the land is cursed, so that no one turns toward their vineyards.

18 He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.

19 As drought and heat consume the melting snow, so Sheol steals those who have sinned.

19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned.

20 The womb forgets them; the worm feeds on them; they are remembered no more. So injustice is broken like a tree.

20 The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.

21 They prey on the barren and childless, and show no kindness to the widow.

21 He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.

22 Yet by His power, God drags away the mighty; though rising up, they have no assurance of life.

22 He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life.

23 He gives them a sense of security, but His eyes are on their ways.

23 Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon their ways.

24 They are exalted for a moment, then they are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like heads of grain.

24 They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.

25 If this is not so, then who can prove me a liar and reduce my words to nothing?”

25 And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?