| Chapter 24 |
1 | Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days? |
2 | [Some] remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed [thereof]. |
3 | They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge. |
4 | They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together. |
5 | Behold, [as] wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness [yieldeth] food for them [and] for [their] children. |
6 | They reap [every one] his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked. |
7 | They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that [they have] no covering in the cold. |
8 | They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter. |
9 | They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor. |
10 | They cause [him] to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf [from] the hungry; |
11 | [Which] make oil within their walls, [and] tread [their] winepresses, and suffer thirst. |
12 | Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly [to them]. |
13 | They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof. |
14 | The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief. |
15 | The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth [his] face. |
16 | In the dark they dig through houses, [which] they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light. |
17 | For the morning [is] to them even as the shadow of death: if [one] know [them, they are in] the terrors of the shadow of death. |
18 | He [is] swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards. |
19 | Drought and heat consume the snow waters: [so doth] the grave [those which] have sinned. |
20 | The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree. |
21 | He evil entreateth the barren [that] beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow. |
22 | He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no [man] is sure of life. |
23 | [Though] it be given him [to be] in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes [are] upon their ways. |
24 | They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all [other], and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn. |
25 | And if [it be] not [so] now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth? |