Job 24

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

1 “Why aren’t times laid up by the Almighty? Why don’t those who know him see his days?

2 Men move boundary stones; they pasture stolen flocks.

2 There are people who remove the landmarks. They violently take away flocks, and feed them.

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

3 They drive away the donkey of the fatherless, and 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 all hide themselves.

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 donkeys in the desert, they go out to their work, seeking diligently for food. The wilderness yields them bread for their children.

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

6 They cut their food in the field. They glean the vineyard of the wicked.

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

7 They lie all night naked without clothing, and 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 lack of a shelter.

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

9 There are those who 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 so that they go around naked without clothing. Being hungry, they carry the sheaves.

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

11 They make oil within the walls of these men. They tread wine presses, 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 From out of the populous city, men groan. The soul of the wounded cries out, yet God doesn’t regard the folly.

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

13 “These are of those who rebel against the light. They don’t know its ways, nor stay in its paths.

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 rises with the light. He kills the poor and needy. In the night he is like 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 waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No eye will see me.’ He disguises 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. They shut themselves up in the daytime. They don’t know 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 all of them like thick darkness, for they know the terrors of the thick darkness.

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 “They are foam on the surface of the waters. Their portion is cursed on the earth. They don’t turn into 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 does Sheol those who 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 will forget him. The worm will feed sweetly on him. He will be no more remembered. Unrighteousness will be broken as a tree.

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

21 He devours the barren who don’t bear. He shows no kindness to the widow.

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

22 Yet God preserves the mighty by his power. He rises up who has no assurance of life.

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

23 God gives them security, and they rest in it. His eyes are on 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; 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 If this is not so, then who can prove me a liar and reduce my words to nothing?”

25 If it isn’t so now, who will prove me a liar, and make my speech worth nothing?”