1 ¶ Why, seeing that times are not hidden from the Almighty, do those that know him not see his days?

2 S ome remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks and feed thereof.

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

4 T hey turn the needy out of the way; and all the poor of the earth hide themselves from them.

5 B ehold, as wild asses in the desert, they go forth to their work, rising early for a prey; the wilderness yields food for them and for their children.

6 I n the field they reap their fodder, and the wicked gather the vintage that is not theirs.

7 T hey cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.

8 T hey are wet with the floods of the mountains and embrace the rock for want of a covering.

9 T hey pluck the fatherless from the breast and take a pledge of the poor.

10 T hey cause the naked to go without clothing, and they take away the sheaves from the hungry.

11 T hey press oil within their walls and tread their winepresses and suffer thirst.

12 M en groan from out of the city, and the souls of the dead cry out; yet God did not hinder them.

13 ¶ They are among those that rebel against the light; they have never known its ways nor abided in its paths.

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

15 T he eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me; and disguises his face.

16 I n the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime; they do not know the light.

17 F or the morning is to them even as the shadow of death; if they are known, the terrors of the shadow of death come over them.

18 ¶ They are swift upon the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth; they never come by the way of the vineyards.

19 D rought and heat consume the snow waters; so does Sheol consume those who have sinned.

20 T he Merciful One shall forget them; the worm shall feed sweetly on them; they shall never be remembered again; and iniquity shall be broken as a tree.

21 H e afflicted the barren woman that did not conceive and never did good unto the widow.

22 H e furthered the violent with his power; he did not lend to anyone in his life.

23 I f he gave credit to some to take them over, his eyes were upon their ways.

24 T hey were exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all others and cut off as the tops of the heads of grain.

25 A nd if it is not so now, who will make me a liar or reduce my speech to nothing?