Job Chapter[BR] 24

1 "Why are times not appointed by the Almighty? Why do those who know him not see his days?

2 Men move boundary stones; they seize the flock and pasture them.

3 They drive away the orphan's donkey; they take the widow's ox as a pledge.

4 They turn the needy from the pathway, and the poor of the land hide themselves together.

Job Chapter[BR] 24

5 Like wild donkeys in the desert they go out to their labor, seeking diligently for food; the wasteland provides food for them and for their children.

6 They reap fodder in the field, and glean in the vineyard of the wicked.

7 They spend the night naked because they lack clothing; they have no covering against the cold.

Job Chapter[BR] 24

8 They are soaked by mountain rains and huddle in the rocks because they lack shelter.

9 The fatherless child is snatched from the breast, the infant of the poor is taken as a pledge.

10 They go about naked, without clothing, and go hungry while they carry the sheaves.

11 They press out the olive oil between the rows of olive trees; they tread the winepresses while they are thirsty.

Job Chapter[BR] 24

12 From the city the dying groan, and the wounded cry out for help, but God charges no one with wrongdoing.

13 There are those who rebel against the light; they do not know its ways and they do not stay on its paths.

14 Before daybreak the murderer rises up; he kills the poor and the needy; in the night he is like a thief.

Job Chapter[BR] 24

15 And the eye of the adulterer watches for the twilight, thinking, 'No eye can see me,' and covers his face with a mask.

16 In the dark the robber breaks into houses, but by day they shut themselves in; they do not know the light.

17 For all of them, the morning is to them like deep darkness; they are friends with the terrors of darkness.

Job Chapter[BR] 24

18 "You say, 'He is foam on the face of the waters; their portion of the land is cursed so that no one goes to their vineyard.

19 The drought as well as the heat carry away the melted snow; so the grave takes away those who have sinned.

20 The womb forgets him, the worm feasts on him, no longer will he be remembered. Like a tree, wickedness will be broken down.

Job Chapter[BR] 24

21 He preys on the barren and childless woman, and does not treat the widow well.

22 But God drags off the mighty by his power; when God rises up against him, he has no faith in his life.

23 God may let them rest in a feeling of security, but he is constantly watching all their ways.

24 They are exalted for a little while, and then they are gone, they are brought low like all others, and gathered in, and like a head of grain they are cut off.'

Job Chapter[BR] 24

25 "If this is not so, who can prove me a liar and reduce my words to nothing?"