24 “Since times of judgment are not kept by the Almighty,
why do they who know Him not see His days?
2 Some remove the landmarks;
they violently take away flocks and feed on them.
3 They drive away the donkey of the orphan;
they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4 They turn away the needy;
the poor of the earth are forced to hide.
5 Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert,
they go out to their work, rising early for a prey.
The wilderness yields food for them and for their children.
6 They gather their fodder in the field,
and they glean in the vineyard of the wicked.
7 They cause the naked to lodge without clothing,
and they have no covering in the cold.
8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains
and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
9 They snatch the fatherless from the breast
and take a pledge from the poor.
10 They cause him to go naked without clothing,
and they take away the sheaf from the hungry.
11 They press out oil within their walls
and tread their winepresses, yet suffer thirst.
12 Men groan from outside the city,
and the soul of the wounded cries out;
yet God does not charge them with wrong.
13 “They are those who rebel against the light;
they do not know its ways
nor abide in its paths.
14 The murderer, rising with the light, kills the poor and needy,
and in the night he is like a thief.
15 Also the eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight,
saying, ‘No eye will see me’;
and he disguises his face.
16 In the dark they break into houses,
which they had marked for themselves in the daytime;
they do not know the light.
17 For the morning is the same to them as the shadow of death;
if someone recognizes them,
they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.
18 “He is swift as the waters.
Their portion is cursed in the earth.
They do not turn toward the way of the vineyards.
19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters;
so the grave consumes those who have sinned.
20 The womb will forget him;
the worm will feed sweetly on him;
he will be remembered no more,
and wickedness will be broken like a tree.
21 He preys on the barren who do not bear,
and does no good for the widow.
22 But God draws the mighty away with His power;
He rises up, and no man is sure of life.
23 He gives them security, and they rely on it;
yet His eyes are on their ways.
24 They are exalted for a little while but are gone and brought low;
they are taken out of the way like all others
and cut off as the tops of the grain.
25 “If it is not so, who will prove me a liar
and make my speech worth nothing?”
