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24 “Why aren’t times laid up by the Almighty?
    Why don’t those who know him see his days?
There are people who remove the landmarks.
    They violently take away flocks, and feed them.
They drive away the donkey of the fatherless,
    and they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
They turn the needy out of the way.
    The poor of the earth all hide themselves.
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.
    They cut their food in the field.
They glean the vineyard of the wicked.
    They lie all night naked without clothing,
and have no covering in the cold.
    They are wet with the showers of the mountains,
and embrace the rock for lack of a shelter.
    There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast,
and take a pledge of the poor,
10     So that they go around naked without clothing.
    Being hungry, they carry the sheaves.
11 They make oil within the walls of these men.
    They tread wine presses, and suffer thirst.
12 From out of the populous city, men groan.
    The soul of the wounded cries out,
    yet God doesn’t regard the folly.

13 “These are of those who rebel against the light.
    They don’t know its ways,
    nor stay in its paths.
14 The murderer rises with the light.
    He kills the poor and needy.
    In the night he is like a thief.
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.
    They shut themselves up in the daytime.
    They don’t know the light.
17 For the morning is to all of them like thick darkness,
    for they know the terrors of the thick darkness.

18 “They are foam on the surface of the waters.
    Their portion is cursed in the earth.
    They don’t turn into the way of the vineyards.
19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters,
    so does Sheol[a] those who have sinned.
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 He devours the barren who don’t bear.
    He shows no kindness to the widow.
22 Yet God preserves the mighty by his power.
    He rises up who has no assurance of life.
23 God gives them security, and they rest in it.
    His eyes are on their ways.
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 it isn’t so now, who will prove me a liar,
    and make my speech worth nothing?”

Footnotes

  1. 24:19 Sheol is the place of the dead.

24 “Why does the Almighty not set times(A) for judgment?(B)
    Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?(C)
There are those who move boundary stones;(D)
    they pasture flocks they have stolen.(E)
They drive away the orphan’s donkey
    and take the widow’s ox in pledge.(F)
They thrust the needy(G) from the path
    and force all the poor(H) of the land into hiding.(I)
Like wild donkeys(J) in the desert,
    the poor go about their labor(K) of foraging food;
    the wasteland(L) provides food for their children.
They gather fodder(M) in the fields
    and glean in the vineyards(N) of the wicked.(O)
Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked;
    they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold.(P)
They are drenched(Q) by mountain rains
    and hug(R) the rocks for lack of shelter.(S)
The fatherless(T) child is snatched(U) from the breast;
    the infant of the poor is seized(V) for a debt.(W)
10 Lacking clothes, they go about naked;(X)
    they carry the sheaves,(Y) but still go hungry.
11 They crush olives among the terraces[a];
    they tread the winepresses,(Z) yet suffer thirst.(AA)
12 The groans of the dying rise from the city,
    and the souls of the wounded cry out for help.(AB)
    But God charges no one with wrongdoing.(AC)

13 “There are those who rebel against the light,(AD)
    who do not know its ways
    or stay in its paths.(AE)
14 When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up,
    kills(AF) the poor and needy,(AG)
    and in the night steals forth like a thief.(AH)
15 The eye of the adulterer(AI) watches for dusk;(AJ)
    he thinks, ‘No eye will see me,’(AK)
    and he keeps his face concealed.
16 In the dark, thieves break into houses,(AL)
    but by day they shut themselves in;
    they want nothing to do with the light.(AM)
17 For all of them, midnight is their morning;
    they make friends with the terrors(AN) of darkness.(AO)

18 “Yet they are foam(AP) on the surface of the water;(AQ)
    their portion of the land is cursed,(AR)
    so that no one goes to the vineyards.(AS)
19 As heat and drought snatch away the melted snow,(AT)
    so the grave(AU) snatches away those who have sinned.
20 The womb forgets them,
    the worm(AV) feasts on them;(AW)
the wicked are no longer remembered(AX)
    but are broken like a tree.(AY)
21 They prey on the barren and childless woman,
    and to the widow they show no kindness.(AZ)
22 But God drags away the mighty by his power;(BA)
    though they become established,(BB) they have no assurance of life.(BC)
23 He may let them rest in a feeling of security,(BD)
    but his eyes(BE) are on their ways.(BF)
24 For a little while they are exalted, and then they are gone;(BG)
    they are brought low and gathered up like all others;(BH)
    they are cut off like heads of grain.(BI)

25 “If this is not so, who can prove me false
    and reduce my words to nothing?”(BJ)

Footnotes

  1. Job 24:11 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.