1 W hy does He not set seasons for judgment? Why do those who know Him see not His days ?

2 S ome remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks and pasture them.

3 T hey drive away the donkey of the fatherless; they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.

4 T hey crowd the poor and needy off the road; the poor and meek of the earth all hide themselves.

5 B ehold, as wild asses in the desert, go forth to their work, seeking diligently for prey and food; the wilderness yields them bread for their children.

6 T hey reap each one his fodder in a field, and they glean the vintage of the wicked man.

7 T hey lie all night naked, without clothing, and have no covering in the cold.

8 T hey are wet with the showers of the mountains and cling to the rock for want of shelter.

9 p luck the fatherless infants from the breast, and take the poor for a pledge,

10 S o that the needy go about naked for lack of clothing, and though hungry, they must carry the sheaves.

11 A mong the olive rows make oil; they tread the presses, but suffer thirst.

12 F rom out of the populous city men groan, and the very life of the wounded cries for help; yet God regards not the wrong done them.

13 T hese wrongdoers are of those who rebel against the light; they know not its ways nor stay in its paths.

14 T he murderer rises with the light; he kills the poor and the needy, and in the night he becomes as a thief.

15 T he eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me, and he puts a disguise upon his face.

16 I n the dark, they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves up; they do not know the sunlight.

17 F or midnight is morning to all of them; for they are familiar with the terrors of deep darkness.

18 S wiftly such men pass away on the face of the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth; turns into their vineyards.

19 D rought and heat consume the snow waters; so does Sheol (the place of the dead) those who have sinned.

20 T he 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.

21 p reys upon the barren, childless woman and does no good to the widow.

22 Y et prolongs the life of the mighty by His power; they rise up when they had despaired of life.

23 G od gives them security, and they rest on it; and His eyes are upon their ways.

24 T hey 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 A nd if this is not so, who will prove me a liar and make my speech worthless?