Chapter 24

¹Why are not times treasured up with the Almighty? why do not they that know him see his days? ²They remove the landmarks; they violently take away the flocks and pasture them; ³They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow`s ox for a pledge; ⁴They turn the needy out of the way: the afflicted of the land all hide themselves. ⁵Lo, [as] wild asses in the desert, they go forth to their work, seeking early for the prey: the wilderness [yieldeth] them food for [their] children. ⁶They reap in the field the fodder thereof, and they gather the vintage of the wicked; ⁷They pass the night naked without clothing, and have no covering in the cold; ⁸They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and for want of a shelter embrace the rock ... ⁹They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor: ¹⁰These go naked without clothing, and, hungry, they bear the sheaf; ¹¹They press out oil within their walls, they tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst. ¹²Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out; and +God imputeth not the impiety. ¹³There are those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof. ¹⁴The murderer riseth with the light, killeth the afflicted and needy, and in the night is as a thief. ¹⁵And the eye of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me; and he putteth a covering on [his] face. ¹⁶In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves in; they know not the light: ¹⁷For the morning is to them all [as] the shadow of death; for they are familiar with the terrors of the shadow of death. ¹⁸He is swift on the face of the waters; their portion is cursed on the earth: he turneth not unto the way of the vineyards. ¹⁹Drought and heat consume snow waters; so doth Sheol those that have sinned. ²⁰The womb forgetteth him; the worm feedeth sweetly on him: he shall be no more remembered; and unrighteousness is broken as a tree, -- ²¹He that despoileth the barren that beareth not, and doeth not good to the widow: ²²He draweth also the mighty with his power; he riseth up, and no [man] is sure of life. ²³[God] setteth him in safety, and he resteth thereon; but his eyes are upon their ways. ²⁴They are exalted for a little, and are no more; they are laid low; like all [other] are they gathered, and are cut off as the tops of the ears of corn. ²⁵If it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?