1Why are times not stored up by the Almighty, and why do those who know him not see his days?
2There are those who move boundary stones; they seize a flock and pasture it.
3They drive off the donkey of the orphans; they take the widow’s ox in pledge.
4They thrust the needy off the road; together the poor of the land are made to hide.
5Look, like wild donkeys in the wilderness they go out to their labor, searching for prey; the desert plain yields food for their young.
6In a field they harvest his fodder, and they glean the vineyard of the wicked.
7Naked they spend the night, without clothing, and with no covering against the cold.
8They are drenched by the mountain rains, and for lack of shelter they cling to the rock.
9They snatch the fatherless from the breast, and against the poor they take a pledge.
10Naked they go about, without clothing, and hungry they carry the sheaves.
11Between their walls they press out oil; they tread the winepresses, yet they go thirsty.
12From the city the dying groan, and the throat of the slain cries out for help, yet God charges no one with wrong.
13They are among those who rebel against the light; they do not recognize its ways, nor dwell in its paths.
14At daybreak the murderer rises; he kills the poor and needy, and in the night he becomes like a thief.
15The eye of the adulterer watches for twilight, saying, ‘No eye will spot me,’ and he puts a covering over his face.
16In the dark he digs through houses; by day they seal themselves in; they do not know the light.
17For deep darkness is morning to all of them; indeed, each is familiar with the terrors of deep darkness.
18He is swift upon the surface of the waters; their portion in the land is cursed; he does not turn toward the way of the vineyards.
19Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters; so Sheol those who have sinned.
20The womb forgets him; the worm feasts on him sweetly; he is no longer remembered, and so wrongdoing is broken like a tree.
21He preys on the barren woman who bears no child, and does no good to the widow.
22Yet he drags off the mighty by his power; he rises up, though he has no assurance of life.
23He grants him security, and he leans on it, yet his eyes are on their ways.
24They are exalted a little while, then they are gone; they are brought low, gathered in like all others, and cut off like the heads of grain.
25If this is not so, who can prove me a liar and reduce my words to nothing?
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