24:1 Why, seeing times [are] not hid from the Almighty, do they
that know him not see his days?
24:2 [Some] remove the landmarks: they violently take away
flocks, and [their] feed.
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 poor of the earth
hide themselves together.
24:5 Behold, [as] wild asses in the desert, they go forth to
their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness
[yieldeth] food for them [and] for [their] children.
24:6 They reap [every one] his corn in the field: and they
gather the vintage of the wicked.
24:7 They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that [they
have] no covering in the cold.
24:8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace
the rock for want of a shelter.
24:9 They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a
pledge of the poor.
24:10 They cause [him] to go naked without clothing, and they
take away the sheaf [from] the hungry;
24:11 [Who] make oil within their walls, [and] tread [their]
wine-presses, and suffer thirst.
24:12 Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the
wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly [to them].
24:13 They are of those that rebel against the light; they know
not its ways, nor abide in its paths.
24:14 The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and
needy, and in the night is as a thief.
24:15 The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight,
saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth [his] face.
24:16 In the dark they dig through houses, [which] they had
marked for themselves in the day-time: they know not the light.
24:17 For the morning [is] to them even as the shades of death:
if [one] knoweth [them], [they are in] the terrors of the
shades of death.
24:18 He [is] swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in
the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.
24:19 Drouth and heat consume the snow-waters: [so doth] the
grave [those who] have sinned.
24:20 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.
24:21 He oppresseth 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 [Though] it is given him [to be] in safety, on which he
resteth; yet his eyes [are] upon their ways.
24:24 They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and
brought low; they are taken out of the way as all [others], and
cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.
24:25 And if [it is] not [so] now, who will make me a liar, and
make my speech of no worth?
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