Job 24

Job 24:1-25 [1]WHY [seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty] does He not set seasons for judgment? Why do those who know Him see not His days [for punishment of the wicked]? [Acts 1:7.] [2]Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks and pasture them [appropriating land and flocks openly]. [3]They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; they take the widow’s ox for a pledge. [4]They crowd the poor and needy off the road; the poor and meek of the earth all hide themselves. [5]Behold, as wild asses in the desert, [the poor] go forth to their work, seeking diligently for prey and food; the wilderness yields them bread for their children [in roots and herbage]. [6]They reap each one his fodder in a field [that is not his own], and they glean the vintage of the wicked man. [7]They lie all night naked, without clothing, and have no covering in the cold. [8]They are wet with the showers of the mountains and cling to the rock for want of shelter. [9][The violent men whose wickedness seems unnoticed] pluck the fatherless infants from the breast [to sell or make them slaves], and take [the clothing on] the poor for a pledge, [10]So that the needy go about naked for lack of clothing, and though hungry, they must carry [but not eat from] the sheaves. [11]Among the olive rows [of the wicked, the poor] make oil; they tread [the fresh juice of the grape from] the presses, but suffer thirst. [12]From out of the populous city men groan, and the very life of the wounded cries for help; yet God [seemingly] regards not the wrong done them. [13]These wrongdoers are of those who rebel against the light; they know not its ways nor stay in its paths. [14]The murderer rises with the light; he kills the poor and the needy, and in the night he becomes as a thief. [15]The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me, and he puts a disguise upon his face. [16]In the dark, they dig through [the penetrable walls of] houses; by day they shut themselves up; they do not know the sunlight. [17]For midnight is morning to all of them; for they are familiar with the terrors of deep darkness. [18][You say] Swiftly such men pass away on the face of the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth; [no treader] turns into their vineyards. [19]Drought and heat consume the snow waters; so does Sheol (the place of the dead) those who have sinned. [20]The womb shall forget him, the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered, and unrighteousness shall be broken like a tree [which cannot be healed]. [Prov. 10:7.] [21][The evil man] preys upon the barren, childless woman and does no good to the widow. [22]Yet [God] prolongs the life of the [wicked] mighty by His power; they rise up when they had despaired of life. [23]God gives them security, and they rest on it; and His eyes are upon their ways. [24]They are exalted for a little while, and then are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all others are and are cut off as the tops of the ears of grain. [25]And if this is not so, who will prove me a liar and make my speech worthless?