Job: Judgment for the Wicked

1“ Why from Shaddai† are the times not hidden away,

and those knowing Him, they have not seen His days?

2They move boundary markers;

they seize a flock and pasture it.

3They drive away the donkey of the fatherless;

they take as a pledge the ox of the widow.

4They push the needy off the road;

together are hidden the poor of the land.

5Behold, wild donkeys in the desert,

they go forth in their work of searching for food;

the Arabah gives food for them and for the young.

6In the field they gather his fodder,

and in the vineyard of the wicked they glean.

7Naked they spend the night without a garment,

and with no covering in the cold.

8From the showers of the mountains they are wet,

and from being without a shelter, they have embraced the rock.

9They snatch from the breast the fatherless,

and the suckling of the poor they bind with a pledge.

10Naked They go about, without clothing,

and hungry—they carry a sheaf.

11Between their walls they press oil;

they tread the winepresses and go thirsty.

12From the city men groan,

and the souls of the wounded cry out;

yet God does not ascribe impropriety.

13They are among those rebelling against the light;

they do not recognize its ways, and they do not dwell in its paths.

14At light the murderer arises;

he kills the poor and needy,

and in the night he is like a thief.

15And the eye of the adulterer watches for twilight,

saying, ‘No eye will see me,’ and he puts a cover over his face.

16In the darkness one digs into houses,

by day they seal themselves in;

they do not know the light.

17For the morning is for them together the shadow of death—

for one regards the terrors of the shadow of death!

18He is swift on the face of the waters;

cursed is their portion in the land.

He does not turn to the way of the vineyards.

19As drought and heat tear away the waters of snow,

so Sheol does to those who have sinned.

20The womb forgets him,

the worm feeds sweetly on him;

no more is he remembered,

and injustice is broken like a tree.

21For he feeds on the barren woman who cannot give birth,

and to the widow he does not do good.

22And he draws away the mighty with his power;

he rises up, and he is not sure of life.

23He gives to him security, and he is supported;

and his eyes are on their ways.

24They are exalted for a little while,

then they are no more;

and they are brought low like all and are gathered up,

and like heads of grain they wither.

25And if not, then who will prove me a liar,

and set to nought my speech?”