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?”