New International Version | New Living Translation |
1"Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment? Why must those who know him look in vain for such days? | 1“Why doesn’t the Almighty bring the wicked to judgment? Why must the godly wait for him in vain? |
2There are those who move boundary stones; they pasture flocks they have stolen. | 2Evil people steal land by moving the boundary markers. They steal livestock and put them in their own pastures. |
3They drive away the orphan's donkey and take the widow's ox in pledge. | 3They take the orphan’s donkey and demand the widow’s ox as security for a loan. |
4They thrust the needy from the path and force all the poor of the land into hiding. | 4The poor are pushed off the path; the needy must hide together for safety. |
5Like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go about their labor of foraging food; the wasteland provides food for their children. | 5Like wild donkeys in the wilderness, the poor must spend all their time looking for food, searching even in the desert for food for their children. |
6They gather fodder in the fields and glean in the vineyards of the wicked. | 6They harvest a field they do not own, and they glean in the vineyards of the wicked. |
7Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked; they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold. | 7All night they lie naked in the cold, without clothing or covering. |
8They are drenched by mountain rains and hug the rocks for lack of shelter. | 8They are soaked by mountain showers, and they huddle against the rocks for want of a home. |
9The fatherless child is snatched from the breast; the infant of the poor is seized for a debt. | 9“The wicked snatch a widow’s child from her breast, taking the baby as security for a loan. |
10Lacking clothes, they go about naked; they carry the sheaves, but still go hungry. | 10The poor must go about naked, without any clothing. They harvest food for others while they themselves are starving. |
11They crush olives among the terraces; they tread the winepresses, yet suffer thirst. | 11They press out olive oil without being allowed to taste it, and they tread in the winepress as they suffer from thirst. |
12The groans of the dying rise from the city, and the souls of the wounded cry out for help. But God charges no one with wrongdoing. | 12The groans of the dying rise from the city, and the wounded cry for help, yet God ignores their moaning. |
13"There are those who rebel against the light, who do not know its ways or stay in its paths. | 13“Wicked people rebel against the light. They refuse to acknowledge its ways or stay in its paths. |
14When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up, kills the poor and needy, and in the night steals forth like a thief. | 14The murderer rises in the early dawn to kill the poor and needy; at night he is a thief. |
15The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk; he thinks, 'No eye will see me,' and he keeps his face concealed. | 15The adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No one will see me then.’ He hides his face so no one will know him. |
16In the dark, thieves break into houses, but by day they shut themselves in; they want nothing to do with the light. | 16Thieves break into houses at night and sleep in the daytime. They are not acquainted with the light. |
17For all of them, midnight is their morning; they make friends with the terrors of darkness. | 17The black night is their morning. They ally themselves with the terrors of the darkness. |
18"Yet they are foam on the surface of the water; their portion of the land is cursed, so that no one goes to the vineyards. | 18“But they disappear like foam down a river. Everything they own is cursed, and they are afraid to enter their own vineyards. |
19As heat and drought snatch away the melted snow, so the grave snatches away those who have sinned. | 19The grave consumes sinners just as drought and heat consume snow. |
20The womb forgets them, the worm feasts on them; the wicked are no longer remembered but are broken like a tree. | 20Their own mothers will forget them. Maggots will find them sweet to eat. No one will remember them. Wicked people are broken like a tree in the storm. |
21They prey on the barren and childless woman, and to the widow they show no kindness. | 21They cheat the woman who has no son to help her. They refuse to help the needy widow. |
22But God drags away the mighty by his power; though they become established, they have no assurance of life. | 22“God, in his power, drags away the rich. They may rise high, but they have no assurance of life. |
23He may let them rest in a feeling of security, but his eyes are on their ways. | 23They may be allowed to live in security, but God is always watching them. |
24For a little while they are exalted, and then they are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like heads of grain. | 24And though they are great now, in a moment they will be gone like all others, cut off like heads of grain. |
25"If this is not so, who can prove me false and reduce my words to nothing?" | 25Can anyone claim otherwise? Who can prove me wrong?” |
New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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