Job 24

1Why are no times stored up by the Almighty? Why do those who know him never see his days?

2People move boundary markers; they seize flocks and pasture them as their own.

3They drive away the donkey of the fatherless and take the widow’s ox as a pledge.

4They push the needy off the road; the poor of the land all hide themselves.

5Look, like wild donkeys in the wilderness, the poor go out to their work, searching for food; the desert provides bread for their children.

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

7They spend the night naked, without clothing, with no covering against the cold.

8They are soaked by the mountain rains and hug the rock for lack of shelter.

9The fatherless child is snatched from the breast, and pledges are taken from the poor.

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

11Between the terrace walls they press out oil; they tread the winepresses, yet they go thirsty.

12From the city people groan, and the souls of the wounded cry for help, yet God does not charge anyone with wrong.

13These are among those who rebel against the light; they do not know its ways or stay in its paths.

14The murderer rises at dawn to kill the poor and needy, and at night he acts like a thief.

15The adulterer’s eye watches for dusk; he says, ‘No eye will see me,’ and he covers his face.

16In the dark they break into houses; by day they shut themselves in; they do not know the light.

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

18He is swept away on the surface of the waters; their portion in the land is cursed; no one turns toward their vineyards.

19As drought and heat snatch away the snow waters, so Sheol snatches those who have sinned.

20The womb forgets him; the worm feasts on him; he is remembered no more, and wickedness is broken like a tree.

21He preys on the barren woman who bears no children and does no good for the widow.

22Yet he drags off the mighty by his power; he rises up, and no one is sure of life.

23He lets them feel secure, and they rely on it, but his eyes are on their ways.

24They are exalted for a little while, and then they are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like everyone else; they are cut off like heads of grain.

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