Job 24
1Why are times for judging wicked people not set by the Almighty? 1 Why do not those who are faithful to God see his days of judgment come? 1
2There are wicked people who remove boundary markers; 1 there are wicked people who take away flocks by force and put them in their own pastures. 1
3They drive away the donkey of those without fathers; 1 they take the widow's ox as security. 1
4They force needy people out of their path; 1 poor people of the earth all hide themselves from them. 1
5See, these poor people go out to their work 1 like wild donkeys in the wilderness, looking carefully for food; 1 perhaps the Arabah will provide them food for their children. 1
6Poor people reap in the night in other people's fields; 1 they glean grapes from the harvest of those wicked people. 1
7They lie naked all night without clothing; 1 they have no covering in the cold. 1
8They are wet with the showers of the mountains; 1 they lie next to large rocks because they have no shelter. 1
9There are wicked people who pluck orphans from their mothers' breast, 1 and wicked people who take children as security from poor people. 1
10But the poor people go about naked without clothing; 1 although they go hungry, they carry bundles of grain belonging to other people. 1
11The poor people make oil within the walls of those wicked men; 1 they tread the wicked men's winepresses, but they themselves suffer thirst. 1
12From out of the city the dying groan, 1 and the throat of the wounded cries out for help. 1 But God does not ascribe blame 1
13Some of these wicked people rebel against the light; 1 they know not its ways, 1 nor do they stay in its paths. 1
14Before daylight the murderer rises 1 and he kills poor and needy people; 1 in the night he is like a thief. 1
15Also, the eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight; 1 he says, 'No eye will see me.' 1 He disguises his face. 1
16In the darkness wicked people dig into houses; 1 but they shut themselves up in the daytime; 1 they do not care for the light. 1
17For all of them, thick darkness is like the morning; 1 for they are friends with the terrors of thick darkness. 1
18Swiftly they pass away, however, like foam on the surface of the waters; 1 their portion of the land is cursed; 1 no one goes to work in their vineyards. 1
19As drought and heat melt away the snow into waters, 1 so Sheol takes away those who have sinned. 1
20The womb that bore him will forget him; 1 the worm will feed sweetly on him; 1 he will be remembered no more; 1 in this way, wickedness will be broken like a tree. 1
21The wicked one devours the barren women who have not borne children; 1 he does no good to the widow. 1
22Yet God drags away the mighty people by his power; 1 he rises up and does not strengthen them in life. 1
23God allows them to think they are secure, and they are happy about that, 1 but his eyes are on their ways. 1
24These people are exalted; still, in only a little while, they will be gone; 1 indeed, they will be brought low; they will be gathered up like all the others; 1 they will be cut off like the tops of ears of grain. 1
25If it is not so, who can prove me to be a liar; 1 who can make my speech worth nothing?”