← Job

Job 24

1
“Why does the Almighty not reserve times for judgment? Why may those who know Him never see His days? Begin Abide·
2
Men move boundary stones; they pasture stolen flocks. Begin Abide·
3
They drive away the donkey of the fatherless and take the widow’s ox in pledge. Begin Abide·
4
They push the needy off the road and force all the poor of the land into hiding. Begin Abide·
5
Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go to work foraging for food; the wasteland is food for their children. Begin Abide·
6
They gather fodder in the fields and glean the vineyards of the wicked. Begin Abide·
7
Without clothing, they spend the night naked; they have no covering against the cold. Begin Abide·
8
Drenched by mountain rains, they huddle against the rocks for want of shelter. Begin Abide·
9
The fatherless infant is snatched from the breast; the nursing child of the poor is seized for a debt. Begin Abide·
10
Without clothing, they wander about naked. They carry the sheaves, but still go hungry. Begin Abide·
11
They crush olives within their walls; they tread the winepresses, but go thirsty. Begin Abide·
12
From the city, men groan, and the souls of the wounded cry out, yet God charges no one with wrongdoing. Begin Abide·
13
Then there are those who rebel against the light, not knowing its ways or staying on its paths. Begin Abide·
14
When daylight is gone, the murderer rises to kill the poor and needy; in the night he is like a thief. Begin Abide·
15
The eye of the adulterer watches for twilight. Thinking, ‘No eye will see me,’ he covers his face. Begin Abide·
16
In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves in, never to experience the light. Begin Abide·
17
For to them, deep darkness is their morning; surely they are friends with the terrors of darkness! Begin Abide·
18
They are but foam on the surface of the water; their portion of the land is cursed, so that no one turns toward their vineyards. Begin Abide·
19
As drought and heat consume the melting snow, so Sheol steals those who have sinned. Begin Abide·
20
The womb forgets them; the worm feeds on them; they are remembered no more. So injustice is broken like a tree. Begin Abide·
21
They prey on the barren and childless, and show no kindness to the widow. Begin Abide·
22
Yet by His power, God drags away the mighty; though rising up, they have no assurance of life. Begin Abide·
23
He gives them a sense of security, but His eyes are on their ways. Begin Abide·
24
They are exalted for a moment, then they are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like heads of grain. Begin Abide·
25
If this is not so, then who can prove me a liar and reduce my words to nothing?” Begin Abide·