24 “Why doesn’t the Mighty One set a time for judging sinful people?
    Why do those who know him have to keep waiting for that day?
² People move their neighbor’s boundary stones.
    They steal their neighbor’s flocks.
³ They take away the donkeys
    that belong to children whose fathers have died.
    They take a widow’s ox until she has paid what she owes.
⁴ They push those who are needy out of their way.
    They force all the poor people in the land to go into hiding.
⁵ The poor are like wild donkeys in the desert.
    They have to go around looking for food.
    The dry and empty land provides the only food for their children.
⁶ The poor go to the fields and get a little grain.
    They gather up what is left in the vineyards of sinners.
⁷ The poor don’t have any clothes. So they spend the night naked.
    They don’t have anything to cover themselves in the cold.
⁸ They are soaked by mountain rains.
    They hug the rocks because they don’t have anything to keep them warm.
⁹ Children whose fathers have died
    are torn away from their mothers.
    A poor person’s baby is taken away to pay back what is owed.
¹⁰ The poor don’t have any clothes. They go around naked.
    They carry bundles of grain, but they still go hungry.
¹¹ They work very hard as they crush olives.
    They stomp on grapes in winepresses,
    but they are still thirsty.
¹² The groans of those who are dying are heard from the city.
    Those who are wounded cry out for help.
    But God doesn’t charge anyone with doing what is wrong.

¹³ “Some people hate it when daylight comes.
    In the daytime they never walk outside.
¹⁴ When daylight is gone, murderers get up.
    They kill poor people and those who are in need.
    In the night they sneak around like robbers.
¹⁵ Those who commit adultery wait until the sun goes down.
    They think, ‘No one will see us.’
    They keep their faces hidden.
¹⁶ In the dark, thieves break into houses.
    But by day they shut themselves in.
    They don’t want anything to do with the light.
¹⁷ Midnight is like morning to them.
    The terrors of darkness are their friends.

¹⁸ “But sinners are like bubbles on the surface of water.
    Their share of the land is under God’s curse.
    So no one goes to their vineyards.
¹⁹ Melted snow disappears when the air is hot and dry.
    And sinners disappear when they go down into their graves.
²⁰ Even their mothers forget them.
    The worms in their graves eat them up.
No one remembers sinful people anymore.
    They are cut down like trees.
²¹ They mistreat women who aren’t able to have children.
    They aren’t kind to widows.
²² But God is powerful.
    He even drags away people who are strong.
When he rises up against them,
    they can never be sure they are safe.
²³ God might let them rest and feel secure.
    But his eyes see how they live.
²⁴ For a little while they are honored.
    Then they are gone.
They are brought low.
    And they die like everyone else.
    They are cut off like heads of grain.

²⁵ “Who can prove that what I’m saying is wrong?
    Who can prove that my words aren’t true?”