JobChapter 24

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¹"Why doesn't the Almighty set times for judging?
Why do those who know him never see those days? ²People move the stones that mark land lines.
They steal flocks and feed them as their own. ³They drive away the donkey of children with no fathers.
They take a widow's ox to hold for her debt. ⁴They push needy people off the road.
They force all the poor of the land to hide. ⁵The poor are like wild donkeys in the desert.
They go to work searching for food.
The wasteland gives food for their children. ⁶They gather animal feed in the fields.
They pick up leftover grapes in the vineyards of the wicked. ⁷They have no clothes, so they spend the night naked.
They have nothing to cover them in the cold. ⁸They are soaked by mountain rains.
They have no shelter, so they huddle against the rocks. ⁹A baby with no father is grabbed from his mother's breast.
The nursing baby of the poor is taken for a debt. ¹⁰They have no clothes, so they wander around naked.
They carry bundles of grain, but they still go hungry. ¹¹They crush olives inside their walls.
They stomp grapes in the winepresses, but they are still thirsty. ¹²In the city, men groan.
The wounded cry out from deep inside.
Yet God doesn't charge anyone with doing wrong. ¹³Then there are those who fight against the light.
They don't know its ways.
They don't stay on its paths. ¹⁴When daylight is gone, the murderer gets up.
He kills the poor and needy.
At night he is like a thief. ¹⁵The man who commits adultery waits for the evening.
He thinks, 'No eye will see me.'
So he covers his face. ¹⁶In the dark, they dig through the walls of houses.
By day they shut themselves in.
They never know the light. ¹⁷For them, deep darkness is their morning.
They are surely friends with the terrors of the dark! ¹⁸They are only foam on top of the water.
Their share of the land is cursed.
So no one goes toward their vineyards. ¹⁹Dry weather and heat take away melting snow.
In the same way, the grave takes away those who have sinned.a ²⁰The mother who bore them forgets them.
The worm feeds on them.
No one remembers them anymore.
So wrongdoing is broken like a tree. ²¹They take advantage of women who have no children.
They show no kindness to the widow. ²²Yet God drags away the mighty by his power.
Even when they rise up, they aren't sure they will live. ²³He lets them feel safe.
But his eyes are on everything they do. ²⁴They are lifted up for a moment, and then they are gone.
They are brought low and gathered up like everyone else.
They are cut off like heads of grain. ²⁵If this isn't so, who can prove I'm lying?
Who can show that my words are worth nothing?"