Job 24

Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment?

¹Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment? \q Why do those who know him never see his days? ²People move boundary stones; \q they steal flocks and graze them as their own. ³They drive off the orphan’s donkey; \q they take the widow’s ox as security for a debt. ⁴They push the needy off the road; \q the poor of the land are all forced into hiding. ⁵Look, like wild donkeys in the wilderness \q the poor go out to their work, searching for food; \q the desert gives them bread for their children. ⁶They reap fodder in a field that belongs to another, \q and they glean the vineyard of the wicked. ⁷They spend the night naked, with no clothing, \q and have nothing to cover them in the cold. ⁸They are soaked by the mountain storms, \q and having no shelter they hug the rocks. ⁹Others snatch the fatherless child from the breast \q and take pledges from the poor.^{a 10}They go about naked, without clothing, \q and they carry the sheaves while they go hungry. ¹¹Among the rows of olive trees they press out oil; \q they tread the winepresses, yet they go thirsty. ¹²In the city the dying groan, \q and the wounded cry out for help; \q yet God pays no attention to the wrong.^{b 13}There are those who rebel against the light; \q they do not know its ways \q or stay on its paths. ¹⁴Before daylight the murderer rises; \q he kills the poor and the needy, \q and at night he is like a thief. ¹⁵The adulterer’s eye watches for the dusk; he says, “No eye will see me,” \q and he covers his face. ¹⁶In the dark they break into houses; \q by day they shut themselves away; \q they want nothing to do with the light. ¹⁷For to all of them, morning is deep darkness; \q they are at home with the terrors of the dark. ¹⁸They are swept away swiftly on the face of the waters; \q their share of the land is cursed; \q no one turns toward their vineyards.^{c 19}As drought and heat carry off the melted snow, \q so Sheol carries off those who have sinned. ²⁰The womb that bore them forgets them; the maggot feasts on them; \q they are remembered no more, \q and wickedness is broken like a tree. ²¹They prey on the childless woman \q and do no good to the widow. ²²But God drags off the mighty by his power; \q when he rises up, they have no assurance of life.^{d 23}God may let them rest secure, and they rely on it, \q but his eyes are on their ways. ²⁴They are exalted for a little while, and then they are gone; \q they are brought low and gathered up like everyone else; \q they are cut off like heads of grain. ²⁵If it is not so, who can prove me a liar \q and show that my words are worth nothing?