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.
