1“Why are times not kept by the Almighty,x

and why do those who know him never see his days?*

2The wickedy remove landmarks;

they seize flocks and pasture them.*

3They drive away the donkey of the orphan;

they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.*

4They thrust the needy off the road;

the poor of the earth all hide themselves.*

5Like wild asses in the desert

they go out to their toil,

scavenging in the wasteland

food for their young.*

6They reap in a field not their own,

and they glean in the vineyard of the wicked.

7They lie all night naked, without clothing,

and have no covering in the cold.*

8They are wet with the rain of the mountains

and cling to the rock for want of shelter.*

9“There are those who snatch the orphan child from the breast

and take as a pledge the infant of the poor.*

10They go about naked, without clothing;

though hungry, they carry the sheaves;

11between their terracesz they press out oil;

they tread the winepresses but suffer thirst.

12From the city the dying groan,

and the throat of the wounded cries for help;

yet God pays no attention to their prayer.*

13“There are those who rebel against the light,

who are not acquainted with its ways

and do not stay in its paths.*

14The murderer rises at dusk

to kill the poor and needy

and in the night is like a thief.*

15The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight,

saying, ‘No eye will see me,’

and he disguises his face.*

16In the dark they dig through houses;

by day they shut themselves up;

they do not know the light.*

17For deep darkness is morning to all of them;

for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.*

18“Swift are they on the face of the waters;

their portion in the land is cursed;

no treader turns toward their vineyards.*

19Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters;

so does Sheol those who have sinned.*

20The womb forgets them;

the worm finds them sweet;

they are no longer remembered,

so wickedness is broken like a tree.*

21“They harma the childless woman

and do no good to the widow.*

22Yet Godb prolongs the life of the mighty by his power;

they rise up when they despair of life.*

23He gives them security, and they are supported;

his eyes are upon their ways.*

24They are exalted a little while and then are gone;

they wither and fade like the mallow;c

they are cut off like the heads of grain.*

25If it is not so, who will prove me a liar

and show that there is nothing in what I say?”