1Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty , do they that know him not see his days ? 2Some remove the landmarks ; they violently take away flocks , and feed thereof . 3They drive away the ass of the fatherless , they take the widow’s ox for a pledge . 4They turn the needy out of the way : the poor of the earth hide themselves together . 5Behold, 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 . 6They reap every one his corn in the field : and they gather the vintage of the wicked . 7They cause the naked to lodge without clothing , that they have no covering in the cold . 8They are wet with the showers of the mountains , and embrace the rock for want of a shelter . 9They pluck the fatherless from the breast , and take a pledge of the poor . 10They cause him to go naked without clothing , and they take away the sheaf from the hungry ; 11Which make oil within their walls , and tread their winepresses , and suffer thirst . 12Men groan from out of the city , and the soul of the wounded crieth out : yet God layeth not folly to them .
God's Silence and the Fate of the Wicked
13They are of those that rebel against the light ; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof. 14The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy , and in the night is as a thief . 15The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight , saying , No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face . 16In the dark they dig through houses , which they had marked for themselves in the daytime : they know not the light . 17For 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 . 18He is swift as the waters ; their portion is cursed in the earth : he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards . 19Drought and heat consume the snow waters : so doth the grave those which have sinned . 20The 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 . 21He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow . 22He draweth also the mighty with his power : he riseth up , and no man is sure of life . 23Though it be given him to be in safety , whereon he resteth ; yet his eyes are upon their ways . 24They 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 . 25And if it be not so now , who will make me a liar , and make my speech nothing worth ?