Job 24

1Why are times not reserved by the Almighty, and why do those who know him not see his days?

2They move boundary markers; they seize a flock and pasture it.

3They drive away the orphan’s donkey; they take the widow’s ox as a pledge.

4They turn the needy off the road; together the poor of the land hide themselves.

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

6In the field they harvest his fodder, and they glean the vineyard of the wicked.

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

8They are drenched by the mountain rains; lacking shelter, they embrace the rock.

9They snatch the orphan from the breast, and they take a pledge from the poor.

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

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

12From the city, men groan, and the wounded cry out for help, yet God does not regard it as folly.

13They are among those who rebel against the light; they do not recognize its ways, nor do they remain in its paths.

14At dawn the murderer rises; he kills the poor and needy, and in the night he is like a thief.

15The adulterer's eye waits for twilight, saying, ‘No eye will see me’; and he conceals his face.

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

17For morning is deep darkness to them all, for he knows the terrors of deep darkness.

18He is swift on the surface of the waters; their portion in the land is cursed; he does not turn toward the vineyards.

19Drought and heat snatch away the waters of snow; Sheol does the same to those who sin.

20The womb forgets him; the worm finds him sweet. He is remembered no more, and wickedness is broken like a tree.

21He feeds on the barren woman who bears no children, and he does no good to the widow.

22Yet he drags away the mighty by his power; he rises up, but he has no assurance of life.

23He gives them security, and they are supported; his eyes are on their ways.

24They are exalted a little while, and then they are gone; they are brought low; like all others they are gathered up, and like the head of a stalk of grain they are cut off.

25And if it is not so, then who can prove me a liar and reduce my word to nothing?