24:1 But why have the seasons been hidden
from Yehovah,
24:2 while the ungodly have passed over the bound, carrying off the flock
with the shepherd?
24:3 They have led away, the ass of the fatherless, and taken the widow's ox
for a pledge.
24:4 They have turned aside the weak from the right way: and the meek of the
earth have hidden themselves together.
24:5 And they have departed like asses in the field, having gone forth on my
account according to their own order: his bread is sweet to [his] little
ones.
24:6 They have reaped a field that was not their own before the time: the
poor have laboured in the vineyards of the ungodly without pay and without
food.
24:7 They have caused many naked to sleep without clothes, and they have
taken away the covering of their body.
24:8 They are wet with the drops of the mountains: they have embraced the
rock, because they had no shelter.
24:9 They have snatched the fatherless from the breast, and have afflicted
the outcast.
24:10 And they have wrongfully caused [others] to sleep without clothing,
and taken away the morsel of the hungry.
24:11 They have unrighteously laid wait in narrow places, and have not known
the righteous way.
24:12 Who have cast forth [the] poor from the city and their own houses, and
the soul of the children has groaned aloud.
24:13 Why then has he not visited these? forasmuch as they were upon the
earth, and took no notice, and they knew not the way of righteousness,
neither have they walked in their [appointed] paths?
24:14 But having known their works, he delivered them into darkness: and in
the night one will be as a thief:
24:15 and the eye of the adulterer has watched [for] the darkness, saying,
Eye shall not perceive me, and he puts a covering on his face.
24:16 In darkness he digs through houses: by day they conceal themselves
securely: they know not the light.
24:17 For the morning is to them all [as] the shadow of death, for [each]
will be conscious of the terror of the shadow of death.
24:18 He is swift on the face of the water: let his portion be cursed on the
earth; and let their plants be laid bare.
24:19 [Let them be] withered upon the earth; for they have plundered the
sheaves of the fatherless.
24:20 Then is his sin brought to remembrance, and he vanishes like a vapour
of dew: but let what he has done be recompensed to him, and let every
unrighteous one be crushed like rotten wood.
24:21 For he has not treated the barren woman well, and has had no pity on a
feeble woman.
24:22 And in wrath he has overthrown the helpless: therefore when he has
arisen, [a man] will not feel secure of his own life.
24:23 When he has fallen sick, let him not hope to recover: but let him
perish by disease.
24:24 For his exaltation has hurt many; but he has withered as mallows in
the heat, or as an ear of corn falling off of itself from the stalk.
24:25 But if not, who is he that says I speak falsely, and will make my
words of no account? |
24:1 Why, seeing times are not hidden from
the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?
24:2 Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed
thereof.
24:3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for
a pledge.
24:4 They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide
themselves together.
24:5 Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work;
rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for
their children.
24:6 They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage
of the wicked.
24:7 They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no
covering in the cold.
24:8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock
for want of a shelter.
24:9 They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the
poor.
24:10 They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the
sheaf from the hungry;
24:11 Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and
suffer thirst.
24:12 Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth
out: yet Elohim layeth not folly to them.
24:13 They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways
thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.
24:14 The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in
the night is as a thief.
24:15 The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye
shall see me: and disguiseth his face.
24:16 In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for
themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.
24:17 For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know
them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.
24:18 He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he
beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.
24:19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those
which have sinned.
24:20 The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he
shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.
24:21 He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to
the widow.
24:22 He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is
sure of life.
24:23 Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his
eyes are upon their ways.
24:24 They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low;
they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the
ears of corn.
24:25 And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech
nothing worth? |