Job 24

24 ¹ Why doesn't the Almighty set aside times for judgment? Why do those who know him never see his days? ² The wicked move boundary stones; they seize flocks and pasture them as their own. ³ They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; they take the widow's ox as collateral. ⁴ They shove the needy off the road, so that the poor of the land are forced into hiding. ⁵ Look — like wild donkeys in the wilderness, the poor go out to their labor, scavenging for food; the wasteland yields bread for their children. ⁶ They harvest fodder in fields not their own and glean the vineyard of the wicked. ⁷ They spend the night naked, without clothing, with no covering against the cold. ⁸ They are drenched by the mountain rains and huddle against the rock for lack of shelter. ⁹ The fatherless child is snatched from the breast, and the infant of the poor is seized as collateral. ¹⁰ They go about naked, without clothing; starving, they carry the sheaves. ¹¹ Among the olive groves they press out oil; they work the winepresses, yet they go thirsty. ¹² From the city the dying groan, and the throats of the wounded cry out for help — yet God does not charge anyone with the wrongdoing.

¹³ There are those who rebel against the light; they do not know its ways or remain in its paths. ¹⁴ At dawn the murderer rises to kill the poor and needy, and by night he prowls like a thief. ¹⁵ The eye of the adulterer watches for twilight, thinking, 'No eye will see me,' and he keeps his face hidden. ¹⁶ In the dark they break into houses; by day they shut themselves away, for they want nothing to do with the light. ¹⁷ For deep darkness is morning to them all; they are at home with the terrors of the dark.

¹⁸ Yet you say they are swift on the face of the waters; their portion of the land is cursed, and no one turns toward their vineyards. ¹⁹ As drought and heat steal away the melting snow, so the grave snatches those who have sinned. ²⁰ The womb that bore them forgets them; the worm feasts on them; they are remembered no more, and wickedness is shattered like a tree. ²¹ They prey on the barren woman who bears no child and show no kindness to the widow.

²² Yet by his power God drags off the mighty; he rises up, and no one is sure of his own life. ²³ God lets them rest in security, and they lean on it, but his eyes are on their ways. ²⁴ They are exalted for a little while, and then they are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like everyone else, cut off like heads of grain. ²⁵ If this is not so, who can prove me a liar and reduce my words to nothing?