Job 24

1Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment? Why do those who know him never see his days? 2People move boundary stones; they steal flocks and graze them as their own. 3They drive off the orphan’s donkey; they take the widow’s ox as security for a debt. 4They push the needy off the road; the poor of the land are all forced into hiding. 5Look, like wild donkeys in the wilderness the poor go out to their work, searching for food; the desert gives them bread for their children. 6They reap fodder in a field that belongs to another, and they glean the vineyard of the wicked. 7They spend the night naked, with no clothing, and have nothing to cover them in the cold. 8They are soaked by the mountain storms, and having no shelter they hug the rocks. 9Others snatch the fatherless child from the breast and take pledges from the poor. 10They go about naked, without clothing, and they carry the sheaves while they go hungry. 11Among the rows of olive trees they press out oil; they tread the winepresses, yet they go thirsty. 12In the city the dying groan, and the wounded cry out for help; yet God pays no attention to the wrong. 13There are those who rebel against the light; they do not know its ways or stay on its paths. 14Before daylight the murderer rises; he kills the poor and the needy, and at night he is like a thief. 15The adulterer’s eye watches for the 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 away; they want nothing to do with the light. 17For to all of them, morning is deep darkness; they are at home with the terrors of the dark. 18They are swept away swiftly on the face of the waters; their share of the land is cursed; no one turns toward their vineyards. 19As drought and heat carry off the melted snow, so Sheol carries off those who have sinned. 20The womb that bore them forgets them; the maggot feasts on them; they are remembered no more, and wickedness is broken like a tree. 21They prey on the childless woman and do no good to the widow. 22But God drags off the mighty by his power; when he rises up, they have no assurance of life. 23God may let them rest 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 show that my words are worth nothing?