Job 24
New Century Version
24 “I wish the Almighty would set a time for judging.
Those who know God do not see such a day.
2 Wicked people take other people’s land;
they steal flocks and take them to new pastures.
3 They chase away the orphan’s donkey
and take the widow’s ox when she has no money.
4 They push needy people off the path;
all the poor of the land hide from them.
5 The poor become like wild donkeys in the desert
who go about their job of finding food.
The desert gives them food for their children.
6 They gather hay and straw in the fields
and pick up leftover grapes from the vineyard of the wicked.
7 They spend the night naked, because they have no clothes,
nothing to cover themselves in the cold.
8 They are soaked from mountain rains
and stay near the large rocks because they have no shelter.
9 The fatherless child is grabbed from its mother’s breast;
they take a poor mother’s baby to pay for what she owes.
10 So the poor go around naked without any clothes;
they carry bundles of grain but still go hungry;
11 they crush olives to get oil
and grapes to get wine, but they still go thirsty.
12 Dying people groan in the city,
and the injured cry out for help,
but God accuses no one of doing wrong.
13 “Those who fight against the light
do not know God’s ways
or stay in his paths.
14 When the day is over, the murderers get up
to kill the poor and needy.
At night they go about like thieves.
15 Those who are guilty of adultery watch for the night,
thinking, ‘No one will see us,’
and they keep their faces covered.
16 In the dark, evil people break into houses.
In the daytime they shut themselves up in their own houses,
because they want nothing to do with the light.
17 Darkness is like morning to all these evil people
who make friends with the terrors of darkness.
18 “They are like foam floating on the water.
Their part of the land is cursed;
no one uses the road that goes by their vineyards.
19 As heat and dryness quickly melt the snow,
so the grave quickly takes away the sinners.
20 Their mothers forget them,
and worms will eat their bodies.
They will not be remembered,
so wickedness is broken in pieces like a stick.
21 These evil people abuse women who cannot have children
and show no kindness to widows.
22 But God drags away the strong by his power.
Even though they seem strong, they do not know how long they will live.
23 God may let these evil people feel safe,
but he is watching their ways.
24 For a little while they are important, and then they die;
they are laid low and buried like everyone else;
they are cut off like the heads of grain.
25 If this is not true, who can prove I am wrong?
Who can show that my words are worth nothing?”
Job 24
King James Version
24 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?
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
