1“Why are not times of judgement kept by the Almighty,

and why do those who know him never see his days?

2Some move landmarks;

they seize flocks and pasture them.

3They drive away the donkey of the fatherless;

they take the widow's ox for a pledge.

4They thrust the poor off the road;

the poor of the earth all hide themselves.

5Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert

the poor24:5 Hebrew they go out to their toil, seeking game;

the wasteland yields food for their children.

6They gather their24:6 Hebrew his fodder in the field,

and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man.

7They lie all night naked, without clothing,

and have no covering in the cold.

8They are wet with the rain of the mountains

and cling to the rock for lack of shelter.

9(There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast,

and they take a pledge against the poor.)

10They go about naked, without clothing;

hungry, they carry the sheaves;

11among the olive rows of the wicked24:11 Hebrew their olive rows they make oil;

they tread the wine presses, but suffer thirst.

12From out of the city the dying24:12 Or the men groan,

and the soul of the wounded cries for help;

yet God charges no one with wrong.

13“There are those who rebel against the light,

who are not acquainted with its ways,

and do not stay in its paths.

14The murderer rises before it is light,

that he may kill the poor and needy,

and in the night he is like a thief.

15The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight,

saying, ‘No eye will see me’;

and he veils his face.

16In the dark they dig through houses;

by day they shut themselves up;

they do not know the light.

17For deep darkness is morning to all of them;

for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

18“You say, ‘Swift are they on the face of the waters;

their portion is cursed in the land;

no treader turns towards their vineyards.

19Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters;

so does Sheol those who have sinned.

20The womb forgets them;

the worm finds them sweet;

they are no longer remembered,

so wickedness is broken like a tree.’

21“They wrong the barren, childless woman,

and do no good to the widow.

22Yet God24:22 Hebrew he prolongs the life of the mighty by his power;

they rise up when they despair of life.

23He gives them security, and they are supported,

and his eyes are upon their ways.

24They are exalted a little while, and then are gone;

they are brought low and gathered up like all others;

they are cut off like the ears of corn.

25If it is not so, who will prove me a liar

and show that there is nothing in what I say?”