Why, since times are not hid from the Almighty,{HR}Do not those who know him see his days?
They remove landmarks; they rob flocks, and feed;
They drive the ass of the orphan,{HR}They distrain the ox of the widow;
They thrust the needy out of the way,{HR}The poor of the land must hide together.
Behold, wild asses in the wilderness, they go forth,{HR}Early about their work, after prey;{HR}The desert [is] to him bread for the little ones;
In the field they reap his cattle-fodder,{HR}And the vineyard of the wicked they glean.
They make the naked lodge without clothing,{HR}And without covering in the cold.
With the rain of mountains they are drenched,{HR}And, shelterless, they embrace a rock.
They pluck the orphan from the breast,{HR}And on the poor lay distraint.
Naked they go without clothing,{HR}And hungry they bear the sheaf,
They make oil within their walls,{HR}They tread wine-vats and they thirst.
Out of the city mortals groan,{HR}And the soul of the wounded crieth out;{HR}Yet God regardeth not the folly!
They are among the rebels against the light,{HR}They know not his ways, nor remain in his paths.
With the light the murderer riseth,{HR}He slayeth the poor and needy,{HR}And in the night he is as a thief.
And the adulterer’s eye watches for the twilight,{HR}Saying, "No eye observeth me,"{HR}And he layeth a veil over the face.
In the dark he breaketh into houses,{HR}They keep themselves close by day, they know not the light.
For morning is to them altogether death-shade,{HR}When he discerneth the terrors of the death-shade.
Light [is] he on the face of the waters;{HR}The portion of those on the land is despised,{HR}He turneth not to the way of the vineyards.
Drought and heat consume the snow-waters;{HR}[So doth] Sheol [those that] have sinned,
The womb forgetteth him, the worm feedeth on him,{HR}He is no more remembered,{HR}And wickedness is broken like a tree.
He devoureth the barren that beareth not,{HR}And doeth the widow no good.
And he hath drawn the mighty by his power,{HR}He riseth, and none believeth in life.
He [God] giveth confidence to him, and he is supported;{HR}And his eyes are on their ways.
High they are a little while, and are not,{HR}And they sink; like all they are shut up,{HR}And are cut off, like the topping ears of corn.
And if not so now, who proveth me a liar,{HR}And maketh my word nought?