Job 24 — FBV

24Verse 1“Why doesn't the Almighty set a definite time to punish the wicked?⁺Why do those who follow him never see him act in judgment?^{Verse 2}The wicked move boundary stones;⁺they seize other people's flocks and move them to their own pastures.^{Verse 3}They steal the orphan's donkey; they take the widow's ox as security for a debt.^{Verse 4}They push the poor out of their way; the destitute are forced to hide from them.^{Verse 5}Like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor have to scavenge for their food, looking for anything to feed their children in the wasteland.^{Verse 6}They are forced to find what they can in other people's fields, to glean among the vineyards of the wicked.^{Verse 7}They spend the night naked because they have no clothes; they have nothing to cover themselves against the cold.^{Verse 8}They are soaked by the cold mountain storms, and huddle beside the rocks for shelter.^{Verse 9}Fatherless children are snatched from their mother's breasts, taking the babies of the poor as security for a debt.^{Verse 10}Because they have no clothes to wear they have to go naked, harvesting sheaves of grain while they themselves are hungry.^{Verse 11}In the olive groves they work to produce oil, but do not taste it; they tread the winepress, but are thirsty.^{Verse 12}In the city the dying groan, and the wounded cry for help, but God ignores their prayers.^{+Verse 13}These are people who rebel against the light. They do not want to know its ways, or to stay on its paths.^{Verse 14}The murderer gets up at dawn to kill the poor and needy, and when night falls he becomes a thief.^{Verse 15}The adulterer waits for dusk, saying to himself, ‘No one will see me now,’ and he covers his face.^{Verse 16}Thieves break into houses during the night and they sleep during the day. They don't even know what the light is like!^{Verse 17}Total darkness is like light to them, for they are familiar with the night.^{Verse 18}Like bubbles⁺on the surface of a river they are quickly carried away. The land they own is cursed by God. They don't enter their own vineyards.^{Verse 19}Just as heat and drought dry up snowmelt, so Sheol takes away those who have sinned.^{Verse 20}Even their mothers forget them, maggots feast on them, they are no longer remembered, and their wickedness becomes like a tree that is broken into pieces.^{Verse 21}They mistreat childless women and are mean to widows.^{Verse 22}God prolongs the life of the wicked by his power; but when they arise, they have no assurance of life.^{+Verse 23}He supports them and gives them security, but he is always watching what they're doing.^{Verse 24}Though they may be illustrious for a while, soon they are gone. They are brought down like all others, cut off like the heads of grain.^{Verse 25}If this isn't so, who can prove I'm a liar and there's nothing to what I say?”