THE BOOK OF JOB

Job Chapter 24

1 ¶ Why does the almighty not reserve times for judgement? why do those who know him not see his days?

2 Some remove property markers; they violently take away flocks, and feed them.

3 They drive away the orphan’s donkey, they take the widow’s ox for security.

4 They crowd the needy off the road: the poor of the country go into hiding.

5 Behold, like wild donkeys of the desert, the poor go about their tasks; looking diligently for food: the wilderness yields food for them and for their children.

6 They gather their grain in the field: and they glean the vineyard of the wicked.

7 They pass the night naked for lack of clothing, they have no covering from the cold.

8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and huddle against the rocks for want of a shelter.

9 The wicked snatch the orphan from the breast, and take loan security from the poor.

10 So that the needy go naked without clothing, and they take away the grain from the hungry;

11 Who press out oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, yet suffer thirst.

12 From out of the city men groan, and the soul of the wounded cries out: yet God pays no attention to the wrong done to them.

13 ¶ They are among those who rebel against the light; they do not know its ways, or abide in its paths.

14 At dawn the murderer rises to kill the poor and needy, and during the night he is a thief.

15 The eye of the adulterer waits for the darkness, saying, No eye will see me: and disguises his face.

16 In the dark men break into houses, in the day they shut themselves in: and do not see the light.

17 For to them the morning is like the shadow of death: if one recognizes them, they are in fear of death.

18 ¶ Such men are like foam on the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: no man travels the road that goes to their vineyards.

19 Just as drought and heat consume the water from snow: the grave consumes those who have sinned.

20 The womb will forget him; the worm will feed sweetly on him; he will no longer be remembered; so wickedness is broken like a tree.

21 The wicked man preys on the barren childless woman: and does not help a widow.

22 Yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power: they rise up when they had despaired of life.

23 God may let him live securely, and well supported; but his eyes are on his ways.

24 They are exalted for a little while, then are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all others, and cut off as the tops of the stalks of grain.

25 And if it is not so, who will show that I am a liar, and that what I have said is worthless?