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?
