1
“Why are times not concealed from Shaddai, while those knowing Him do not see His days?
2
They move boundary stones; they seize a flock and pasture it.
3
They lead away the donkey of the fatherless and bind the ox of the widow as a pledge.
4
They turn the poor from the Way; the crushed of the earth hide themselves together.
5
See, like wild donkeys in the wilderness, they go forth in their work, seeking food at dawn; the desert gives bread for them and for their young ones.
6
In a field they harvest his fodder, and they glean the vineyard of the wicked.
7
They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, with no covering in the cold.
8
They are wet from the rain of the mountains and embrace a rock for lack of shelter.
9
They tear the fatherless from the breast and take a pledge over the poor.
10
They cause him to walk naked, without clothing; while hungry, they carry sheaves.
11
Between their walls they press oil; they tread winepresses and thirst.
12
From the city mortal men groan, and the being of the pierced cries for help, yet Eloah does not set disorder upon it.
13
These are among those rebelling against light; they do not recognize His Ways and do not dwell in His paths.
14
At light the murderer rises; he puts the poor and needy to death, and in the night he becomes like a thief.
15
The eye of the adulterer guards twilight, saying, ‘No eye shall behold me’; and he sets a covering upon his face.
16
In darkness they dig through houses; by day they seal themselves in. They do not know light.
17
For morning is death-shadow to them together; when one recognizes them, the terrors of death-shadow come.
18
He is swift upon the face of waters; their portion is cursed in the earth; he does not turn toward the way of vineyards.
19
Drought and heat steal away snow-waters; so Sheol steals those who sinned.
20
The womb forgets him; the worm is sweet to him. He is remembered no more, and crookedness is broken like a tree.
21
He feeds upon the barren who did not bear and does no good to the widow.
22
Yet He draws the mighty by His power; he rises, though he does not trust in life.
23
He gives him security, and he leans upon it, while His eyes are upon their Ways.
24
They are exalted a little, and then are no more; they are lowered and gathered like all others, and like the head of a stalk they are cut.
25
If it is not so, who shall make me a liar and set my Word as nothing?”