24:1 Why are not times treasured up with the Almighty? why do not they that know him see his days? |
24:2 They remove the landmarks; they violently take away the flocks and pasture them; |
24:3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge; |
24:4 They turn the needy out of the way: the afflicted of the land all hide themselves. |
24:5 Lo, [as] wild asses in the desert, they go forth to their work, seeking early for the prey: the wilderness [yieldeth] them food for [their] children. |
24:6 They reap in the field the fodder thereof, and they gather the vintage of the wicked; |
24:7 They pass the night naked without clothing, and have no covering in the cold; |
24:8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and for want of a shelter embrace the rock ... |
24:9 They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor: |
24:10 These go naked without clothing, and, hungry, they bear the sheaf; |
24:11 They press out oil within their walls, they tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst. |
24:12 Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out; and +God imputeth not the impiety. |
24:13 There are those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof. |
24:14 The murderer riseth with the light, killeth the afflicted and needy, and in the night is as a thief. |
24:15 And the eye of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me; and he putteth a covering on [his] face. |
24:16 In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves in; they know not the light: |
24:17 For the morning is to them all [as] the shadow of death; for they are familiar with the terrors of the shadow of death. |
24:18 He is swift on the face of the waters; their portion is cursed on the earth: he turneth not unto the way of the vineyards. |
24:19 Drought and heat consume snow waters; so doth Sheol those that have sinned. |
24:20 The womb forgetteth him; the worm feedeth sweetly on him: he shall be no more remembered; and unrighteousness is broken as a tree, -- |
24:21 He that despoileth the barren that beareth not, and doeth not good to the widow: |
24:22 He draweth also the mighty with his power; he riseth up, and no [man] is sure of life. |
24:23 [God] setteth him in safety, and he resteth thereon; but his eyes are upon their ways. |
24:24 They are exalted for a little, and are no more; they are laid low; like all [other] are they gathered, and are cut off as the tops of the ears of corn. |
24:25 If it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth? |