| Chapter 24
|
| 1 | Why, seeing
times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his
days? |
| 2 | Some remove the
landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof. |
| 3 | They drive away the ass of the
fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge. |
|
4 | They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the
earth hide themselves together. |
| 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. |
| 6 | They reap
every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked. |
| 7 | They cause the naked to
lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold. |
| 8 | They are wet with the showers of the
mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter. |
| 9 | They pluck the fatherless from the
breast, and take a pledge of the poor. |
| 10 | They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they
take away the sheaf from the hungry; |
|
11 | Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses,
and suffer thirst. |
| 12 |
Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God
layeth not folly to them. |
| 13 |
They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways
thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof. |
| 14 | The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and
needy, and in the night is as a thief. |
| 15 | The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight,
saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face. |
| 16 | In the dark they dig through houses,
which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the
light. |
| 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. |
|
18 | He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth:
he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards. |
| 19 | Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the
grave those which have sinned. |
| 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. |
| 21 | He evil entreateth the barren
that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow. |
|
22 | He draweth also the mighty with his power: he
riseth up, and no man is sure of life. |
| 23 | Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he
resteth; yet his eyes are upon their ways. |
| 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. |
| 25 |
And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech
nothing worth? |
